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What Is Currying In Programming?

Table of contents

What is Currying?

Currying is a way to transform a function [→] so that it takes one argument [→] at a time. Instead of taking all arguments at once, a curried function takes the first argument and returns a new function that takes the next argument, and so on. This can make your code cleaner and more flexible.

Key Features of Currying

Currying has some key features:

  1. One Argument at a Time: Functions take arguments one by one.
  2. Function Chaining: Each function returns a new function until all arguments are provided.
  3. Reusable Functions: You can create reusable functions with preset arguments.

Currying Example (Javascript)

In JavaScript, you can create a curried function like this:

01: function curry(func) { 02: return function curried(...args) { 03: if (args.length >= func.length) { 04: return func.apply(this, args); 05: } else { 06: return function(...nextArgs) { 07: return curried.apply(this, args.concat(nextArgs)); 08: } 09: } 10: }; 11: }

Example of Currying a Function

Let's look at an example:

01: function add(a, b) { 02: return a + b; 03: } 04: 05: let curriedAdd = curry(add); 06: 07: console.log(curriedAdd(1)(2)); // Output: 3

In this example, curriedAdd(1) returns a new function that takes the second argument, and curriedAdd(1)(2) returns the sum.

Real-World Uses of Currying

Currying is used in many situations, like:

  1. Function Composition: Creating complex functions by combining simpler ones.
  2. Partial Application: Pre-setting some arguments for a function.
  3. Event Handling: Simplifying event handlers in web development.
  4. Data Transformation: Creating pipelines for data processing.

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