F

A very opininated C# functional framework for decoupling Data, State and Logic

C# was developed as an OOP language where data, state and logic are strongly coupled in instances
of mutable classes. This makes coding in a 'functional' paradigm difficult:

• Encapsulating a State and passing it around with a dedicated access/mutation API (e.g, locking for
  thread safety) is challenging.

• Creating immutable Data with value semantics is challenging and enforcing immutability across a
  solution is challenging. Also Immutable containers are cumbersome to use and have reference semantics.

• Encapsulating pure Logic is challenging. Using static classes for logic is cumbersome and requires
  passing relevant states to each function.

Newer language features (records, refs, lambdas etc) allow better functional programming in C#.
F Introduces a clear separation between State, Data and Logic along with support mechanisms:

• Data

  Data are immutable types with value semantics (including for == and !=) implemented as C# records.
  F also provides Data versions of .NET collections with enhanced API, see Collections:

  record EmployeeData(string Name, Set<string> Phones);
  

  Set is the F version of ImmutableHashSet and is itself Data and so can be ie stored in a Set or be itself a key in a Map (dictionary).
  
  

  record PhonesData : SetBase<PhonesData, string> {
    public PhonesData() : base() { }
    public PhonesData(params string[] phones) : base(phones) { }
  }
  
  record EmployeeData(string Name, PhonesData Phones);
  
  var employeeList = new Lst<EmployeeData>(); 
  

  SetBase is the base class for Set, Inheriting SetBase (rather than using Set directly) makes PhonesData a
  separate type to encourage type safety.

  Lst is the F Data version of ImmutableList.
  
  

  record EmployeesMapData : MapBase<EmployeesMapData, string, EmployeeData>;
  
  var daveData = new EmployeeData("Dave", new PhonesData("65321457"));
  var repository = new EmployeesMapData(("dave", daveData));
  
  var newDaveData = daveData with { Phones = daveData.Phones + "78901234" }; 
  repository += ("dave", newDaveData);
  
  var dave = repository["dave"];
  if (dave is not null) ...
  

  MapBase is the base class for Map (the F version of ImmutableDictionary)

  Note the use of + to add to Phones and += to add to repository . F collections prefer operator overloading
  for adding/removing as they are more suitable and convenient for immutable types.
  For Map '+' will overwrite existing values.

  Also note the index operator returning T? is preferred over TryGetValue for non-nullable reference types as it is more natural.
  TryGetValue is still available for nullable reference types or value types.

• State - an instance of a class implementing IState or IReadOnlyState to provide an explicit
              clear API for creating, accessing and mutating the state:

  var johnData = new EmployeeData("John", new());
  var johnState = new LockedState<EmployeeData>(johnData); 
  
  IReadOnlyState<EmployeeData> JohnStateRO = johnState.ToIReadOnlyState;
  EmployeeData johnData = JohnStateRO.Val(); 
  
  IState<EmployeeData> JohnStateRW = johnState.ToIState;
  JohnStateRW.Val((ref EmployeeData johnData) => {
    johnData = johnData with { Phones = johnData.Phones + "78901234" };
  }); 
  

  Using a LockedState makes access and mutation of johnState thread safe (by acquiring a lock).

  JohnStateRO is a thread safe read-only access to the State that can be passed around.
  .Val() temporarily locks the state and returns it's current (immutable) value.
  
  JohnStateRW is a thread safe read/write access to the State that can be passed around.
  .Val((red ...) locks the state to allow mutation. Importantly it is the only way to mutate the Data in a johnState .
  
  .ToIReadOnlyState and .ToIState are recommended but optional and serve to make the intention (read-only vs read/write) explicit. IStates are really only useful as parameter to Logic classes constructors.

• Logic - a C# class that is initialized with access to specific states, this saves passing the state to each API call
              and provides precise access control:

  class EmployeesLogic {
    readonly IState<EmployeesMapData> EmployeesMapState;
    readonly IReadOnlyState<ConfigData> ConfigState;
  
    public EmployeesModule(IStateRef<EmployeesMapData> employeesMapState, IStateVal<ConfigData> configState) {
      EmployeesMapState = employeesMapState;
      ConfigState) = configState;
    }
  
    public EmployeesMapData Val() => EmployeesMapState.Val();
  
    public PhonesData? GetEmployeePhones(string name) => EmployeesMapState.Val()[name]?.Phones;
  
    public bool AddEmployeePhone(string name, string phone) {
      return EmployeesMapState.Val((ref EmployeesMapData employeesMap) => {
        var employee = employeesMap[name];
        if (employee is null) return false;
        var newPhone = ConfigState.Val().PhoneCountryPrefix + phone;
        var mutatedEmployee = employee with { Phones = employee.Phones + newPhone }; 
        employeesMap+= (name, mutatedEmployee);
        return true;
      });
    }
  }
  

  EmployeesLogic is a Logic class - it's only (private & readonly) fields are the States that its
  methods can access/mutate. In this case it has a mutation access to EmployeesMapState and a
  read only access to ConfigState.
  
  EmployeesLogic provides public read-only access to a private state via the Val() method,
  this is a common (but optional) design decision.
  
  GetEmployeePhones uses Val() to get access to the current value of Employees.
  
  AddEmployeePhone uses a Val((ref ...) to mutate EmployeesMapState. Val here also returns a value
  to the surrounding scope.
  Using Val((ref ...) is the only way to change EmployeesMapState and because it is a LockedState
  this operation is thread-safe (a lock is acquired internally).
  
  
  

• Validator Debug time verifier that checks all types in the assembly adhere to the State/Data/Logic separation:

  record BadData(string Name, HashSet<int> Phones);
  
  Validator.Run();  
  // throws exception: Data record BadData member Phones cannot be a class
  

  The Validator though optional is in many ways the heart of F. While it will definitely work to mix in elements of F into a project, ideally the entire code base is structured to decouple Data State and Logic using F throughout
  and calling Validator.Run() for validating.
  
  Inevitably in many cases, some .NET types that are not Data have to be used. In some of these cases it
  is possible to encapsulate these types inside a Data type and move their mutable part to a State.
  Other types cannot be converted (ie classes inheriting EntityFrameworkCore.DbContext which is not
  immutable) and have to be managed carefully using [FIgnore].
  
  

Installation

• Add the .cs files to your project
• In your sources add using F;
• call Validator.Run() at program start
  
  

License

Apache 2.0