What's the Big Deal with Folds, Anyway? by Eric Fredericks

Folds! They're the best! Trust me! OK....sure.... but the basic folding you get in Scala collections is just glorified iteration. There's got to be something more! What's the big deal? Why the hype?

In this talk, we'll explore folds in Haskell and how they are similar, and yet fundamentally different, in Scala. We'll look at how one Java-Refugee-Now-Scala-Developer's perspective was broadened by looking in detail at how Haskell folds work. We'll implement Haskell-style folds in Scala, illustrating how doing this kind of deep dive can help you solidify your understanding of FP and help you become a more mature Scala programmer.

Eric Fredericks is a Software Engineer at Tubi, Inc., with over 20 years experience developing software. He holds both a bachelor's and master's degree in computer science and fell in love with programming in college. He has worked in various business domains such as telecommunications, financial services, homeland security, education, location services, healthcare, and ad tech. He loves working with Scala on the backend, enjoys functional programming and endless learning.