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Haskell - Interview Questions
Explain the concept of immutability in Haskell and why it is important.
Immutability is a core concept in Haskell, and it refers to the property that once a value is defined, it cannot be changed or mutated. In Haskell, all values, including variables, are immutable by default.

Here are a few key points that explain the concept of immutability in Haskell and its importance:

1. Preservation of Data Integrity : Immutable data ensures that once a value is assigned, it remains constant throughout its lifetime. This property prevents accidental modification of data by different parts of a program, reducing the chances of bugs caused by unintended side effects.

2. Referential Transparency : Immutability plays a crucial role in maintaining referential transparency, which is a fundamental principle of functional programming. Referential transparency means that a function, when called with the same inputs, always produces the same outputs. With immutable data, functions can rely on the stability of their inputs, leading to predictable and reliable code behavior.

3. Ease of Reasoning and Debugging : Immutable data simplifies the reasoning process in programming. Since values cannot change, developers can more easily understand how data flows through a program and reason about its behavior. Bugs related to unexpected data modifications become less likely, making programs easier to debug and maintain.
4. Support for Parallel and Concurrent Programming : Immutability enables safe and efficient parallel and concurrent programming in Haskell. Since data cannot be mutated, multiple threads can access and operate on shared data without the risk of data races or inconsistencies. This allows for more straightforward and reliable development of concurrent systems.

5. Performance Optimization : Contrary to common intuition, immutability can lead to performance optimizations. In Haskell's lazy evaluation model, immutable data can be shared and reused, reducing unnecessary computations. Additionally, immutability enables compiler optimizations, such as common subexpression elimination and memoization, improving runtime efficiency.

6. Modular and Composable Code : Immutable data promotes modularity and code reuse. Since values are unchanging, functions can be safely composed and combined without unexpected interactions or unwanted side effects. This encourages the creation of reusable components and promotes a more modular and maintainable codebase.
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