A VERY simple application scenario of the Maybe Monad in F#

simple_maybe_monad_usage.fs

open FSharpx.Option

/// Type synonims
type ProductId = string
type Price = float


type Inventory() =
    let inv_ = new System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<ProductId, Price>()

    member this.Stock (id : ProductId) (price : Price) =
        inv_.Add(id, price)
    
    member this.Price (id : ProductId) =
        try
            Some(inv_.[id])
        with
            | :? System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException -> None


let inline (|@|) (p1 : Price option) (p2 : Price option) =
    maybe{
        let! v1 = p1
        let! v2 = p2
        return! Some(v1 + v2)
    }
    
let reporter (priceSum : Price option) : unit =
    match priceSum with
    | Some(p) -> printfn "Total price: %g." p
    | None    -> printfn "One or more id not found."


//Initialize a basic inventory and throw inside a bunch of items
let inventory = new Inventory()
inventory.Stock "MyWidget" 10.3
inventory.Stock "Gizmos" 4.34
inventory.Stock "Foo1000" 8.12

//Sum prices
inventory.Price("MyWidget") |@| inventory.Price("Gizmos") |> reporter

//A further step, price sum pipelining
inventory.Price("MyWidget")
    |> (|@|) (inventory.Price("Gizmos"))
    |> (|@|) (inventory.Price("Foo1000"))
    |> reporter

//A failing computation
inventory.Price("MyWidget")
    |> (|@|) (inventory.Price("Gizmos"))
    |> (|@|) (inventory.Price("DoesNotExist"))
    |> reporter


//A completely automatic procedure
let sumAndReport (inventory : Inventory) (ids : ProductId list) : unit =
    let basket = List.map (fun pid -> inventory.Price(pid)) ids
    in List.reduce (fun p1 p2 -> p1 |@| p2) basket 
    |> reporter

Piping operators is unnecessary in this case, compare 2 |> (+) 2 |> (+) 4 with 2 + 2 + 4.

Ok, in this case yes, I though you were generalizing to never use the pipe operator and I was puzzled :D
Anyway, I've completed my blog articled that should (hopefully) explain things a little better: http://alfredodinapoli.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/humbly-simple-f-maybe-monad-application-scenario/

Bye!