I just want to clarify what the term Stream means in FP. We already have stream-like behavior with lazy linked Lists. Lists differ from Streams in two properties though:
they are a sum type (tagged union) with Cons/Nil as cases, whereas Stream doesn't need a Nil case
the tail of the List isn't wrapped in a monad so pulling out new elements cannot depend on an effect (this again is possible with the next step in Streams)
Streams are more expressive than Lists and you can apply fusion on it (avoiding intermediate structures) but it also loses some features like sharing, for instance (you can share a list).
I just want to clarify what the term Stream means in FP. We already have stream-like behavior with lazy linked Lists. Lists differ from Streams in two properties though:
Cons/Nilas cases, whereas Stream doesn't need aNilcaseStreams are more expressive than Lists and you can apply fusion on it (avoiding intermediate structures) but it also loses some features like sharing, for instance (you can share a list).
Hi Iven,
thanks for the clarification, awesome!
Of course this article is more focused on the provided API than the underlying concept of streams. Therefore your comment is a nice addition.