What is the difference between monads and closures?

What is the difference between monads and closures?

Monads are design patterns used to handle side effects in functional programming, while closures are functions that capture their surrounding state.

Can you give me an example of a monad?

Sure! The Maybe monad is a common example. It represents a value that might be present or absent, allowing safe handling of null values.

And what about closures? How do they work?

Closures are functions that remember the environment in which they were created. They can access variables from that scope even when called outside of it.

Why would I use a monad instead of just using closures?

Monads provide a structured way to handle chaining operations and managing side effects, while closures are more about encapsulating state.

Can you explain how to implement a simple closure?

Certainly! A simple closure can be created by defining a function inside another function, allowing the inner function to access variables from the outer function.