Decoding Kotlin Side Effects, Pure & Impure Functions: Clearing the Confusion with Jetpack Compose Side Effects Too

In Kotlin, a side effect is a change in the state of a program that occurs outside of the current function. A side effect can be caused by modifying a variable outside of a local scope(don’t worry we will look in detail), modifying the state of a database, making a network request, or updating a file. Side effects are considered impure because they introduce external dependencies and can cause unpredictable behavior.

Kotlin is a multi-paradigm programming language, which means that it supports both functional and imperative programming styles. In functional programming, a pure function is a function that has no side effects and produces the same output given the same input. Pure functions are predictable and easy to reason about, which makes them ideal for functional programming. In Kotlin, side effects are often managed using techniques such as monads or pure functional state.

A monad is a design pattern that is commonly used in functional programming to manage side effects. A monad is a data type that wraps a value and provides a way to chain together operations that can have side effects, while still maintaining referential transparency.

In other words, a monad is a way to encapsulate side effects…