Questions tagged [side-effect]
The side-effect tag has no usage guidance.
46
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Should I repeat calculations twice to follow "return a value or have side-effects, but not both"?
According to Origin of "a method should return a value or have side-effects, but not both", a method should either return a value or have side-effect, but not both. However, I often see some ...
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3
votes
1
answer
140
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How to handle a state machine side effect being optional?
I have a state machine that, as a side effect of going into a certain state, sends a message to a remote server. In some situations, however, I don't want the state machine to send that message, even ...
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3
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329
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How to implement state machine side effect that needs data the state machine doesn't have
Given a state machine that implements a certain protocol. I need multiple instances of this protocol running, so I create multiple instances of this state machine. Each instance is associated with a ...
- 215
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votes
5
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Is there a non-deterministic function without side effects?
By definition, a pure function is deterministic + no side effect.
Is there any example for a function which has no side effects, but is non-deterministic? I.e., a function without side effects, but ...
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762
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How to test a function with several conditional nested side effects
In Python, consider a function like the following:
def main(*args):
value1 = pure_function1(*args)
if condition(value1):
value = side_effect1(value1)
if value:
...
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-4
votes
2
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127
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Does the HTTP specification fully define the semantics of request methods?
I see two possible interpretations of the semantics of request methods defined in the HTTP specification RFC 7231:
The intended effect of a request method is fully defined by the HTTP specification (...
- 602
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2
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211
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A command as the intended effect of POST versus as the side effect of PUT
The intended effect (semantics) of the POST method is resource specific, e.g. executing a command with arguments:
POST /command HTTP/1.1
{"parameter-1": "argument-1", "...
- 602
3
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2
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436
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Is rebooting a server idempotent or not?
In his article RESTful Casuistry, Tim Bray claims that rebooting a server is not idempotent:
But I don’t buy it, and here’s why. If I want to update some fields in an existing resource, I’m inclined ...
- 602
2
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1
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308
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Can I enforce "functional core, imperative" shell with a framework?
The design pattern known as "functional core, imperative shell" is about separating side-effects from pure calculations, where business logic is supposed to be pure and then coordinated by ...
- 145
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Is having side-effects in constructor an anti-pattern?
I was trying to understand how to embed v8 engine in a C++ application and was trying to understand the following hello world problem as a result.
I found the code to be unreadable at first glance. e....
- 121
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475
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Remove all side-effects from business logic
I'm looking for feedback for a design pattern that aims to remove all side-effects from business logic. I'm using PHP but the pattern can be applied to any OOP language. The point is to enforce pure ...
- 145
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578
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What's the value of IO Monad?
When I'm writing code in the form of IO Monad, I wonder what's real value of it.For example I have a function as def something(in: In): IO[Out]; my function is a pure function that **returns an impure ...
- 169
8
votes
3
answers
807
views
Avoiding side effects in immutable class constructor
I rewrote a very long method in which some data is queried from a database, based on info about a particular account, which is queried first.
I split out the account info into an immutable inner ...
- 91
0
votes
1
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454
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Side-effect-free functions and returning domain information DDD
In Domain-Driven Design (Eric Evans) the discussion on side-effect-free functions talks about separating commands which "result in modifications to observable state" from queries which have no side-...
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Where to store side effect state in an event sourcing system
I also had a look at How do I deal with side effects in Event Sourcing? but the solution wasn't clear to me.
If I store "EmailSent" event in the event stream, I might issue the external request to ...
0
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3
answers
441
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Side-effect free programming language for reproducible data transformation
Is there a usable programming language that disallows all side effects except for its input stream (aka STDIN) and its output stream (aka STDOUT)? All executable scripts in the language should be ...
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best practice for data.table use in "formal" code
Consider a "large-ish" data set (~2-5M rows) that goes through multiple stages of cleaning/processing:
library(dplyr)
largedat %>%
mutate(
# overwrite v1 based on others
v1 = somefunc(...
- 336
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3
answers
4k
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Do functional programming languages disallow side effects?
According to Wikipedia, Functional programming languages, that are Declarative, they disallow side effects. Declarative programming in general, attempts to minimize or eliminate side effects.
Also, ...
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9
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Return considered harmful? Can code be functional without it?
OK, so the title is a little clickbaity but seriously I've been on a tell, don't ask (TDA) kick for a while. I like how it encourages methods to be used as messages in true object-oriented fashion. ...
- 105k
7
votes
4
answers
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Does object-oriented programming allows side effects and state changes?
I know that obviously every language has its own characteristics and implementations, but from a theoretical standing point, viewing OOP as an abstract programming paradigm, does it allows side ...
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6
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Why is it is easier to reason about programming languages and programs that have no side effects?
I read "The Why of Y" from Richard P. Gabriel. It is an easy to read article about the Y combinator, which is quite rare. The article begins with the recursive definition of the factorial function:
...
- 389
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0
answers
175
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Are there downsides to writing PDO/mysqli statements into my code directly vs using my own redirect wrapper methods?
TL;DR: To access DB functionality in my codebase I currently use a custom layer throughout the code. The layer needs an upgrade in order to begin accepting prepared statements, which it currently ...
- 8,187
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What do you call a function where the same input will always return the same output, but also has side effects?
Say we have a normal pure function such as
function add(a, b) {
return a + b
}
And then we alter it such that it has a side effect
function add(a, b) {
writeToDatabase(Math.random())
return a ...
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5
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Is the benefit of the IO monad pattern for handling side effects purely academic?
Sorry for yet another FP + side effects question, but I couldn't find an existing one which quite answered this for me.
My (limited) understanding of functional programming is that state/side effects ...
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3
answers
3k
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Origin of "a method should return a value or have side-effects, but not both"
I read once that a method should either have a return value (and be referentially transparent), or have side-effect(s), but not both. I cannot find any references to this rule, but want to learn more ...
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295
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Are any side effects not concrete side effects?
In Chapter 23 of "Object Oriented Software Construction" (1988), Betrand Meyer makes a distinction between side effects, concrete side effects, and abstract side effects.
Meyer defines a side effect ...
- 559
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1
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805
views
Mutable with logic inside or immutable with logic outside?
I know immutable objects are preferred to mutable objects for reasoning and maintenance. But in occasions making a class immutable have some costs, let me explain it with a simple example:
class ...
- 1,806
0
votes
1
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70
views
Choose approaches for updating an object
Say I have a simple object created by from user input:
var input = { url: 'http://example.com/', path: 'abc', user: 'adam' };
And I am to write function(s) that update url and path properties ...
- 101
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1
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3k
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Functional programming for loop side effect
I am trying to get my head around as to why having a local variable or a for loop inside a function is not considered to be pure functional programming.
Given this function:
int as_int(char *str)
{
...
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How can IO cause side effects in Functional Programming? [duplicate]
Whenever I read about Haskell, I find that IO can cause side effects.
But I do not understand how it would do it?
Do we mean that we are writing to a file from one lazy sequence and another lazy ...
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5
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4k
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Why is reading from memory not a side-effect but reading from a file is?
What does exactly make reading from the process memory a pure operation? Suppose I created an array of 100 integers in the global memory and then took the 42th element of this array. It is not a side ...
- 311
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2
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Alternative to language purity
Purity
One of the interesting concepts in Haskell is the purity. However, I am wondering what the pragmatic reasons behind this is - let me explain a bit more before you reject my question.
My main ...
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Is it ever OK for a conditional to have side effects? [closed]
I'm taking intermediate data structures course as a prereq for entry into the CS MS program at a University everyone in America has heard of. One line of code that was written in class caught my eye:
...
- 220
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2
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996
views
Can referentially transparent functions have side effects?
I read everywhere that referential transparency and side-effects are mutually exclusive for all functions, however, what about the case in which a function changes some state that has no effect on its ...
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Side Effects Breaking Referential Transparency
Functional Programming in Scala explains a side effect’s impact on breaking referential transparency:
side effect, which implies some violation of referential transparency.
I’ve read part of SICP, ...
- 541
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2
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Unit testing side effect-heavy code
I'm starting to write C++ code to run a robot, and I don't know how to incorporate unit testing, if indeed I can. I have been provided with a library which allows the creation of "commands" ...
- 353
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2
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553
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Side effect-free interface on top of a stateful library
In an interview with John Hughes where he talks about Erlang and Haskell, he has the following to say about using stateful libraries in Erlang:
If I want to use a stateful library, I usually build ...
- 1,002
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2
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889
views
Where do we put "asking the world" code when we separate computation from side effects?
According to Command-Query Separation principle, as well as Thinking in Data and DDD with Clojure presentations one should separate side effects (modifying the world) from computations and decisions, ...
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3
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How is referential transparency enforced?
In FP languages, calling a function with the same parameters over and over again returns the same result over and over again (i.e. referential transparency).
But a function like this (pseudo-code):
...
- 2,319
10
votes
2
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Are side-effects in Array's "every", or "some" bad?
I've always been taught that having side-effects in an if condition are bad. What I mean is;
if (conditionThenHandle()) {
// do effectively nothing
}
... as opposed to;
if (condition()) {
...
- 203
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vote
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603
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I don't understand the definition of side effects [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is a “side effect?”
I don't understand the wikipedia article on Side Effects:
In computer science, a function or expression is said to have a side effect if, in ...
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Different ways to see a monad
While learning Haskell I have faced a lot of tutorials trying to explain what are monads and why monads are important in Haskell. Each of them used analogies so it would be easier to catch the meaning....
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Does long term programming affect writing in a native spoken languages? [closed]
So, I am getting some years under my belt in long term programming. I have noticed, however, when the frequency and duration started increasing in my coding sessions that when I actually went to ...
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How to create scalable & side-effect free integration tests?
In my current project, I am having a hard time coming up with a good solution to create scalable integration tests that have no side effects. A little clarification on the side effect free property: ...
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Asynchronous Programming in Functional Languages
I'm mostly a C/C++ programmer, which means that the majority of my experience is with procedural and object-oriented paradigms. However, as many C++ programmers are aware, C++ has shifted in emphasis ...
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Why are side-effects considered evil in functional programming?
I feel that side effects are a natural phenomenon. But it is something like taboo in functional languages. What are the reasons?
My question is specific to functional programming style. Not all ...
- 9,422