What are some interesting uses of higher-order functions?

Question

I\'m currently doing a Functional Programming course and I\'m quite amused by the concept of higher-order functions and functions as first class citizens. However, I can\'t yet

Answer 1

Here's a small paraphrased code snippet:

rays :: ChessPieceType -> [[(Int, Int)]]
rays Bishop = do
  dx <- [1, -1]
  dy <- [1, -1]
  return $ iterate (addPos (dx, dy)) (dx, dy)
...  -- Other piece types

-- takeUntilIncluding is an inclusive version of takeUntil
takeUntilIncluding :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a]

possibleMoves board piece = do
  relRay <- rays (pieceType piece)
  let ray = map (addPos src) relRay
  takeUntilIncluding (not . isNothing . pieceAt board)
    (takeWhile notBlocked ray)
  where
    notBlocked pos =
      inBoard pos &&
      all isOtherSide (pieceAt board pos)
    isOtherSide = (/= pieceSide piece) . pieceSide

This uses several "higher order" functions:

iterate :: (a -> a) -> a -> [a]
takeUntilIncluding  -- not a standard function
takeWhile :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a]
all :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> Bool
map :: (a -> b) -> [a] -> [b]
(.) :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> a -> c
(>>=) :: Monad m => m a -> (a -> m b) -> m b

(.) is the . operator, and (>>=) is the do-notation "line break operator".

When programming in Haskell you just use them. Where you don't have the higher order functions is when you realize just how incredibly useful they were.