What benefits does Option offer over TypeScript's optional `?` operator when it comes to typing?

As I embark on my journey with the fp-ts library, a question arises in my mind: What benefits does the Option type offer compared to TypeScript's standard method of handling optional values using the question mark ? operator?

Answer №1

When working with Typescript, using the question mark can indicate whether a value exists or not. However, leveraging the Option type from fp-ts becomes essential when performing computations on these values.

For instance, consider a scenario where we have two items in a shop, each with optional prices, and we need to retrieve both prices or return a default value indicating "not for sale". Let's first examine how this would be approached in standard Typescript:

type ShopItem = {
    price?: number
}
const getPrice = (item1: ShopItem, item2: ShopItem): number | null => {
    const price1 = item1.price;
    const price2 = item2.price;

    if (price1 && price2) {
        return price1 + price2;
    }
    return null;
}

However, this approach has its drawbacks. It may overlook cases where the price is 0, mistakenly labeling the item as unavailable. Additionally, it lacks scalability when dealing with multiple ShopItems or other item types with optional values, requiring repetitive checks for null values.

Now, let's compare this to the alternative presented by fp-ts: https://codesandbox.io/s/laughing-wu-pffe3

import { some, none, ap, Option } from "fp-ts/lib/Option";
import { pipe } from 'fp-ts/lib/pipeable'

type ShopItem = {
    price: Option<number> //either Some<number> or None
}
const getPrice = (item1: ShopItem, item2: ShopItem): Option<number> =>
  pipe( 
   some((a: number) => (b: number) => a + b), 
   ap(item1.price),
   ap(item2.price)
  );

This functional approach simplifies the process by abstracting away null checks into the None type. By utilizing fp-ts, the addition function is directly applied to the item prices without explicit conditional statements.

Answer №2

While I understand @derp's points, I must admit that his code snippet may not be the most optimal. The pipe() API can be quite confusing to grasp, and on top of that, it seems that fp-ts is considered a deprecated library.

Further details include:

  • The documentation for the fp-ts lib lacks clear examples on how to use Option types effectively.
  • If you manage to navigate through the inadequate examples, you'll notice a lack of proper pattern-matching methods (additional details: https://github.com/gcanti/fp-ts-contrib/issues/63 ).
  • It appears that the fp-ts lib is somewhat outdated (the aforementioned pattern-matching issue on GitHub has been closed without a resolution).
  • The creator of fp-ts has moved on to work on a different library named effect (more information available)

For additional insights, check out Would an Option or Optional type (Option<T>) make sense in TypeScript?

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