Cats & Scalaz: Popular Function Libraries in Scala

Cats and Scalaz: Popular Functional Libraries in Scala

Scala is a versatile functional programming language, and its use of libraries makes it even more powerful. Cats and Scalaz are two popular libraries that offer a range of useful functional features. Here, we’ll explore what each has to offer and how they can help you when developing applications using Scala.

What is Cats?

Cats is a library for functional programming in Scala. It provides abstractions for functional programming in the form of data types, type classes and other utilities. Cats also provides interoperability with libraries such as Scalaz and fs2. The library was created by the folks at Typelevel and is available on GitHub.

Some of the key features of Cats are:

• Type classes for cats, which are used to provide modularity and flexibility, allowing for reuse of code.
• Pattern matching and composition, allowing for concise and efficient coding.
• Algebraic data types, which represent data in various ways.
• Monads, which provide abstractions for dealing with side effects.
• Abstractions for asynchronous and concurrent programming.

What is Scalaz?

Scalaz is a library written for Scala that provides a range of combinators, data structures and type classes. It was created by the folks at Serlets and is available on GitHub. Like Cats, Scalaz also provides interoperability with libraries such as Scalaz and fs2.

Some of the key features of Scalaz are:

• Type classes for Scalaz which are used to provide modularity and flexibility, allowing for reuse of code.
• Monads, which provide abstractions for dealing with side effects.
• Lenses, which allow for efficient mutation of immutable data.
• Foldables, which provide abstractions for folding data structures.
• Abstractions for asynchronous and concurrent programming.

Conclusion

Cats and Scalaz are both popular functional libraries in Scala. They provide a range of useful features, such as type classes, monads, lenses and more. They also provide interoperability with a range of other Scala libraries, making them both powerful and versatile tools for functional programming in Scala.