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Add a Why section to README #1052

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Jun 29, 2016
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Add a Why section to README #1052

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Add a Why section to README
adelbertc May 21, 2016
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Reword Why section of README
adelbertc Jun 21, 2016
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7 changes: 7 additions & 0 deletions README.md
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Expand Up @@ -14,6 +14,13 @@ The name is a playful shortening of the word *category*.

![cats image](http://plastic-idolatry.com/erik/cats2.png)

#### Why?

Scala provides many tools for functional programming such as algebraic data types, higher kinded types
and implicits. However, common abstractions such as `Monoid`, `Monad`, and `Traverse` are currently missing from
the standard library, leaving a bit to be desired. Among the goals of Cats is to fill this gap, and to provide a
foundation for an [ecosystem of pure, typeful libraries](http://typelevel.org/projects/).
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Warning: bike shedding - I'm sorry.

However, common abstractions such as Monoid, Monad, and Traverse are currently missing from the standard library, leaving a bit to be desired.

The word missing here suggests that Monoid etc should be in the standard library, which is an opinion that many may hold, but at the end of the day is an opinion. I'd be inclined to focus on the positive rather than the negative. What do you think of something like the following?

The scala language supports both object-oriented and functional programming, and this is reflected in the hybrid OO/FP approach of its standard library. Cats is an exploration into what the standard library might look like if it focused mostly on functional programming. It takes advantage of scala features such as implicits and higher-kinded types to provide type classes such as Monoid, Monad, and Traverse, which provide composable abstractions for common use-cases. While Cats encourages reuse of some standard library data structures such as List and Option, it also provides some of its own algebraic data types such as Xor and Validated. <Typelevel plug here>


### Getting Started

Cats is currently available for Scala 2.10 and 2.11.
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