What is the difference between Haskell's monads and functors?

What is the difference between Haskell's monads and functors?

In Haskell, functors are types that can be mapped over, while monads are a type of functor with additional capabilities, like chaining operations.

Can you give me an example of a functor in Haskell?

Sure! The Maybe type is a common functor. You can use fmap to apply a function to the value inside a Maybe, if it exists.

And how does a monad extend that functionality?

Monads allow you to chain operations together using the >>= operator, which lets you pass the result of one computation to the next.

Why are monads considered more powerful than functors?

Monads can handle side effects and manage state, while functors only allow you to apply functions to values without such control.