More on Functions in Scala

In this article, we shall see about two concepts:

• Lambda Functions (Anonymous Functions)
• Higher-order Functions

As already mentioned, Scala supports both object-oriented and functional programming. This article covers a bit of functional programming concepts.

All functions in Scala are values, just like any other String or Int.

Lambda (Anonymous) Functions

Anonymous functions are functions that do not have a name. They are used to help keep code concise and readable.

You might already be using lambda functions without knowing about them.

val items = Seq(1, 2, 3, 4);val even = items.filter(x => x % 2 == 0); // x => x % 2 == 0 is our lambda function.

In the above example, we are passing a nameless function with one parameter x which checks whether x % 2 is 0 and returns true or false.

This nameless function is a lambda.

What is its use? Exactly what you see. They are used in places where you need to pass a function as a parameter.

By the way, functions that accept these anonymous functions as parameters are higher-order functions.

Higher-order Functions

These functions either accept other functions as parameters or return a function as a result.

Here's an example:

def DoubleThis(fn: T => Boolean): Int

Here, T is a generic type inferred from the value of p supplied.

Since this function accepts a function p as a parameter, it is a HOF.

Example:

def TrueOrFalse(n: Int): Boolean = {  return if(n < 0) false else true;}def RunThisFunctionOnOne(fn: Int => Boolean) = {  val result = fn(1);  if(result == true) println("This is true");  else println("This is false");}RunThisFunctionOnOne(TrueOrFalse);

In this example, we are passing the TrueOrFalse function as a parameter to RunThisFunctionOnOne.

Let us see an example with a lambda.

def RunThisFunctionOnOne(fn: Int => Boolean) = {  val result = fn(1);  if(result == true) println("This is true");  else println("This is false")}RunThisFunctionOnOne(n => if(n < 0) false else true);

Common examples of HOFs you'd use commonly are methods like filter, find, map, foreach, etc., that are found on collections.

Function Types

Let us look into how function types are defined.

val addTwoItems: (Int, Int) => Int = (a, b) => a + b;

Here, (Int, Int) is a list of parameter types.

=> Int says that the function will return another integer.

= (a, b) => a + b is the actual lambda function.

Implicits & Givens

Scala provides givens (implicit in Scala 2)