10 Functional combinators for fluent concurrent programming
This chapter covers
- Handling exceptions in a functional style
- Using built-in
Taskcombinators - Implementing custom asynchronous combinators and conditional operators
- Running parallel asynchronous heterogeneous computations
In the previous two chapters, you learned how to apply asynchronous programming to develop scalable and performant systems. You applied functional techniques to compose, control, and optimize the execution of multiple tasks in parallel. This chapter further raises the level of abstraction for expressing asynchronous computations in a functional style.
We’ll start by looking at how to manage exceptions in a functional style, with a focus on asynchronous operations. Next, we’ll explore functional combinators, a useful programming tool for building a set of utility functions that allow you to create complex functions by composing smaller and more concise operators. These combinators and techniques make your code more maintainable and performant, improving your ability to write concurrent computations and handle side effects. Toward the end of this chapter, we’ll go through how to interop between C# and F# by calling and passing asynchronous functions from one to the other.
Of all the chapters in this book, this one is the most complex, because it covers FP theory where the lexicon might appear as jargon initially. With great effort, comes great reward . . . .