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Scala Saturday – Stream.collect

Filtering over a sequence of values omits values that do not meet certain criteria. Mapping over a sequence of values transforms each value into another value. What if you could do both at the same time—filter out unwanted values, but transform the ones that are left? You can with Stream.collect. But first, you need to know about partial functions.

Partial Functions

A partial function is a function that has a limited domain, i.e., is not defined for every possible value of its input type, but only a subset.

The classic example is division. Division is undefined for a divisor of zero. In other words, m ÷ n is valid unless n = 0. So then, division is not defined for every number n. In this particular example, that’s not a big limitation on the domain, but it is nevertheless a limitation that prevents us from saying that division is defined for every possible n.

Scala has a PartialFunction type that allows you to represent a function that is only valid for a limited domain. Here is how you could represent integer division:

val divide = new PartialFunction[(Int,Int), Int] {
  override def isDefinedAt(x: (Int, Int)) = x._2 != 0
  override def apply(x: (Int, Int)) = x._1 / x._2
}

val quotient = divide(12, 4)
// quotient: Int = 3

Partial functions have the apply method that other functions have so that you can execute them with parentheses: divide(12, 3). They also have an isDefinedAt method so that you can ask the partial function, “Hey, can you handle this input?” That way, you can use an if-else expression to return a default or some other value:

val fine = if (divide.isDefinedAt(12, 4)) {
  divide(12, 4)
} else Int.MaxValue
// three: Int = 3

val meh = if (divide.isDefinedAt(12, 0)) {
  divide(12, 0)
} else Int.MaxValue
// meh: Int = 2147483647

In fact, this is such a common pattern, that PartialFunction has applyOrElse that takes an input and a default function that is executed if the partial function is not defined for the given input:

val default = Function.const(Int.MinValue) _  // lifted
val fine = divide.applyOrElse((12, 4), default)
// fine: Int = 3
val meh = divide.applyOrElse((12, 0), default)
// meh: Int = -2147483648

Now just because a partial function has a limited domain doesn’t mean that Scala prevents you from calling it on inputs that are outside its domain:

val quotient = divide(12, 0)
// java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero

Therefore, remember to check the domain of a partial function before applying it to a given input. A responsibly crafted API that accepts partial functions from you will verify that an input is in the partial function’s domain before applying it.

You may be thinking, “That’s great, but it’s got a lot of boilerplate.” That’s true. Scala is nice enough to let you use pattern matching syntax to define a partial function in a terser fashion:

val divide: PartialFunction[(Int,Int), Int] = {
  case (num, den) if den != 0 => num / den 
}

val quotient = divide(12, 4)
// quotient: Int = 3

Finally, perhaps a single partial function is not defined for the entire set of possible inputs, but you can use multiple partial functions that together cover the entire input range. It’s a contrived example, but you can take one partial function that is defined for even integers and another one that is defined for odds and then compose them together with the orElse method to get a partial function that does cover the entire set of possible inputs:

val square: PartialFunction[Int,Int] = {
  case x if x % 2 == 0 => x * x
}
val cube: PartialFunction[Int,Int] = {
  case x if x % 2 == 1 => x * x * x
}
val transform = square orElse cube

val squared = transform(4)
// squared: Int = 16

val cubed = transform(3)
// cubed: Int = 27

Collect: Filter and Map in One

Whereas Stream.filter takes a predicate—a function that takes a value and returns a Boolean—Stream.collect takes—you guessed it—a partial function. Stream.collect checks each element of the stream to see whether it is in the partial function’s domain. If the partial function is not defined for the input element, then Stream.collect discards it. If the input is within the partial function’s domain, then Stream.collect applies the partial function to the input element and returns the result as the next element in the output sequence.

val squaredEvens = (4 to 7).toStream.collect {
  case n if n % 2 == 0 => n * n
}
// squaredEvens: Stream[Int] = Stream(16, 36)

The following graphic illustrates what is going on in the code above:

Stream.collect takes a partial function performs a transform on its inputs for which it is defined. The resulting stream only retains the transformed values for which the partial function is defined; Stream.collect filters out any values not in the partial function's domain.
Collecting Items from a Stream

OK, so Stream.collect performs a filter and a map all in one. Why not just call Stream.filter and then Stream.map? One example I’ve seen is when you’re pattern matching and destructuring and then only using one/some of the potential match cases. Perhaps you have a trait and some case classes representing orders that were either fulfilled or cancelled before fulfillment:

trait Order
case class Fulfilled(id: String, total: BigDecimal)
case class Cancelled(id: String, total: BigDecimal)

You’d like to know how many dollars you “lost” in cancelled orders. Use Stream.collect to extract the dollar value of each cancelled order, and then sum them:

val orders = Stream(
  Fulfilled("fef3356074b4", BigDecimal("28.50")),
  Fulfilled("2605c9988f1d", BigDecimal("88.25")),
  Cancelled("94edac47971f", BigDecimal("22.01")),
  Fulfilled("2a1ff57b8f46", BigDecimal("39.30")),
  Fulfilled("9ee0a3e3da3a", BigDecimal("27.97")),
  Cancelled("db5dc439ad93", BigDecimal("99.49")),
  Fulfilled("08d58811ed36", BigDecimal("53.72")),
  Cancelled("63ebd07475ca", BigDecimal("93.66")),
  Cancelled("12d16ae9c112", BigDecimal( "7.79")),
  Fulfilled("c5ecedaedb0e", BigDecimal("87.21")) )

val cancelledDollars = orders.collect {
  case Cancelled(_, dollars) => dollars
}.sum
// cancelledDollars: BigDecimal = 222.95
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Tech

F# Friday – Seq.choose

Filtering over a sequence of values omits values that do not meet certain criteria. Mapping over a sequence of values transforms each value into another value. What if you could do both at the same time—filter out unwanted values, but transform the ones that are left? You can with Seq.choose.

Whereas Seq.filter takes a predicate—a function that takes a value and returns a Boolean—Seq.choose takes a function that takes a value and returns an Option. If that Option is None, then Seq.choose discards it. If it is Some, then Seq.choose extracts the value from the Some and returns it as the next element in the output sequence.

let f = fun n -> match n % 2 with
                 | 0 -> Some (n * n)
                 | _ -> None
let squaredEvens = seq [4..7]
                   |> Seq.choose f
// val squaredEvens : seq<int> = seq [16; 36]

The following graphic illustrates what is going on:

Seq.choose takes a function that may perform a transform on its input that returns an option: Either a Some containing the transformed value or otherwise a None. The resulting sequence only retains the Some values; Seq.choose filters out the None values.
Choosing Items from a Sequence

OK, so Seq.choose performs a filter and a map all in one. Why not just call Seq.filter and then Seq.map? One example I’ve seen is when you’re pattern matching and destructuring and then only using one/some of the potential match cases. Perhaps you have a discriminated union representing orders that were either fulfilled or cancelled before fulfillment:

type Order =
| Fulfilled of id : string * total : decimal
| Cancelled of id : string * total : decimal

You’d like to know how many dollars you “lost” in cancelled orders. Use Seq.choose to extract the dollar value of each cancelled order, and then sum them:

let orders = [
    Fulfilled ("fef3356074b4", 28.50m)
    Fulfilled ("2605c9988f1d", 88.25m)
    Cancelled ("94edac47971f", 22.01m)
    Fulfilled ("2a1ff57b8f46", 39.30m)
    Fulfilled ("9ee0a3e3da3a", 27.97m)
    Cancelled ("db5dc439ad93", 99.49m)
    Fulfilled ("08d58811ed36", 53.72m)
    Cancelled ("63ebd07475ca", 93.66m)
    Cancelled ("12d16ae9c112",  7.79m)
    Fulfilled ("c5ecedaedb0e", 87.21m)
]

let cancelledDollars = 
    orders 
    |> Seq.choose (function
                   | Cancelled (_, dollars) -> 
                        Some dollars 
                   | _ -> None)
    |> Seq.sum
// val cancelledDollars : decimal = 222.95M
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Tech

Scala Saturday – The Stream.grouped Method

Another method Stream offers is Stream.grouped, which divides a stream’s elements into groups of a given size.

To take an example, if you have a stream of twelve elements and call Stream.grouped to turn it into groups of three, you’ll get an iterator over four sequences, each three elements in size:

val xs = (1 to 12).toStream
val grouped = xs.grouped(3)
// grouped: Iterator[Stream[Int]] =
//   Iterator(
//     Stream(1, 2, 3), Stream(4, 5, 6), 
//     Stream(7, 8, 9), Stream(10, 11, 12))

What happens if you use a group size that does not divide evenly into the size of your input stream? No sweat! The last group just contains any remaining elements, however many they may be:

val xs = (1 to 10).toStream
val grouped = xs.grouped(3)
// grouped: Iterator[Stream[Int]] =
//   Iterator(
//     Stream(1, 2, 3), Stream(4, 5, 6), 
//     Stream(7, 8, 9), Stream(10))

Where is this useful? Well, you can take my paging example from my Scala Saturday post on Stream.drop and make it slightly clearer without the (page - 1) * perPage arithmetic:

case class Book(title: String, author: String)
 
val books = Stream(
  Book("Wuthering Heights", "Emily Bronte"),
  Book("Jane Eyre", "Charlotte Bronte"),
  Book("Agnes Grey", "Anne Bronte"),
  Book("The Scarlet Letter", "Nathaniel Hawthorne"),
  Book("Silas Marner", "George Eliot"),
  Book("1984", "George Orwell"),
  Book("Billy Budd", "Herman Melville"),
  Book("Moby Dick", "Herman Melville"),
  Book("The Great Gatsby", "F. Scott Fitzgerald"),
  Book("Tom Sawyer", "Mark Twain")
)

val perPage = 3
val page = 3
val records = books.grouped(perPage)
                .drop(page - 1)
                .next
// records: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[Book] = 
//   Stream(Book(Billy Budd,Herman Melville), 
//     Book(Moby Dick,Herman Melville), 
//     Book(The Great Gatsby,F. Scott Fitzgerald))

This time, instead of having to calculate the number of elements to skip in order to skip n pages, you first use Stream.grouped to turn the stream into a paged recordset; each “page” is n records long. Then drop page - 1 pages in order to get to the page of records you want. Finally, calling Iterator.next is necessary because, remember, Stream.grouped turns a flat stream into a stream of streams.

I will admit that I find it irritating that Stream.grouped returns something that does not have a head method. Calling Iterator.next, while just as easy, is inconsistent with collection semantics. It seems to me that Stream.grouped ought to return a collection rather than an iterator. Perhaps there was once a reason for returning an iterator instead of a collection, but it would be nice if we could fix that.

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F# Friday – The Seq.chunkBySize Function

Another module function new with F# 4.0 is Seq.chunkBySize (so new, in fact, that there is not even a hint of it on MSDN as of this writing, and hence the Github link). Seq.chunkBySize groups a sequence’s elements into arrays (chunks) of a given size.

To take an example, if you have a sequence of twelve elements and call Seq.chunkBySize to turn it into groups of three, you’ll get a sequence of four arrays, each three elements in size:

let xs = seq [1..12]
let chunked = xs |> Seq.chunkBySize 3
// val chunked : seq<int []> =
//   seq [[|1; 2; 3|]; [|4; 5; 6|]; 
//        [|7; 8; 9|]; [|10; 11; 12|]]

What happens if you use a chunk size that does not divide evenly into the size of your input sequence? No sweat! The last array just contains any remaining elements, however many they may be:

let xs = seq [1..10]
let chunked = xs |> Seq.chunkBySize 3
// val chunked : seq<int []> =
//   seq [[|1; 2; 3|]; [|4; 5; 6|]; 
//        [|7; 8; 9|]; [|10|]]

Where is this useful? Well, you can take my paging example from my F# Friday post on Seq.skip and make it slightly clearer without the (page - 1) * perPage arithmetic:

type Book = 
    { Title : string
      Author : string }

let books = 
    seq [
        { Title = "Wuthering Heights"
          Author = "Emily Bronte" }
        { Title = "Jane Eyre"
          Author = "Charlotte Bronte" }
        { Title = "Agnes Grey"
          Author = "Anne Bronte" }
        { Title = "The Scarlet Letter"
          Author = "Nathaniel Hawthorne" }
        { Title = "Silas Marner"
          Author = "George Eliot" }
        { Title = "1984"
          Author = "George Orwell" }
        { Title = "Billy Budd"
          Author = "Herman Melville" }
        { Title = "Moby Dick"
          Author = "Herman Melville" }
        { Title = "The Great Gatsby"
          Author = "F. Scott Fitzgerald" }
        { Title = "Tom Sawyer"
          Author = "Mark Twain" }
    ]

let perPage = 3
let page = 3
let records = 
    books
    |> Seq.chunkBySize perPage
    |> Seq.skip (page - 1)
    |> Seq.head

// val records : Book [] =
//   [|{Title = "Billy Budd";
//      Author = "Herman Melville";}; 
//     {Title = "Moby Dick";
//      Author = "Herman Melville";};
//     {Title = "The Great Gatsby";
//      Author = "F. Scott Fitzgerald";}|]

This time, instead of having to calculate the number of elements to skip in order to skip n pages, you first use Seq.chunkBySize to turn the sequence into a paged recordset; each “page” is n records long. Then skip page - 1 pages in order to get to the page of records you want. Finally, calling Seq.head is necessary because, remember, Seq.chunkBySize turns a flat sequence into a sequence of arrays.

One final note: the Array and List modules also contain a chunkBySize function in F# 4.0.

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Scala Saturday – The Stream.distinct Method

Scala Saturday today is short and sweet: Stream.distinct. Stream.distinct removes any duplicate members of a stream, leaving only unique values.

One way to remove duplicates is to turn your stream into a set with Stream.toSet:

val noDupes = Stream(3,5,6,3,3,7,1,1,7,3,2,7).toSet
// noDupes: scala.collection.immutable.Set[Int] = 
//   Set(5, 1, 6, 2, 7, 3)

That’s fine if you don’t care about preserving the order of the items in the input stream.

But if you do want to preserve the order, Stream.distinct is the ticket:

val noDupesOrdered =
    Stream(3,5,6,3,3,7,1,1,7,3,2,7).distinct
// noDupesOrdered: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[Int] = 
//   Stream(3, 5, 6, 7, 1, 2)
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F# Friday – The Seq.distinct Function

Today’s F# Friday is a simple one: Seq.distinct. Seq.distinct removes any duplicate members of a sequence, leaving only unique values.

One way to remove duplicates is to turn your sequence into a set with Set.ofSeq:

let noDupes = seq [3;5;6;3;3;7;1;1;7;3;2;7]
              |> Set.ofSeq
// val noDupes : Set<int> = 
//   set [1; 2; 3; 5; 6; 7]

That’s fine if you don’t care about preserving the order of the items in the input sequence.

But if you do want to preserve the order, Seq.distinct is the ticket:

let noDupesOrdered =
    seq [3;5;6;3;3;7;1;1;7;3;2;7]
    |> Seq.distinct
// val noDupesOrdered : seq<int> = 
//   seq [3; 5; 6; 7; 1; 2]
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Scala Saturday – The Stream.dropWhile Method

Just as the analog to Stream.take is Stream.skip, the analog to Stream.takeWhile is Stream.dropWhile. That is, when you don’t care so much about dropping a certain number of items, but rather a certain kind of items.

Stream.dropWhile starts at the beginning of the stream and applies a predicate to each item, one by one. It does not start returning items in a new stream until it reaches an item that does not meet the predicate. Then it stops checking elements against the predicate and returns every item in the stream from that point on:

Stream.dropWhile skips items at the beginning of a sequence until it reaches an item that does not meet the given predicate.
Dropping Items in a Sequence While a Predicate Holds

Assume you have the same temperature sensor as the one in my post on Stream.takeWhile. This time, instead of once per minute, assume that it feeds you temperature readings once per second. Add to that the idea that the sensor has a few seconds of boot-up time in which it sends you -1000.0—the indication that the current reading is invalid—until it has fully booted and can start sending good temperature data.

import java.time.{LocalDateTime, Month}
case class Reading(temperature: Double, timestamp: LocalDateTime)

val readings = Stream(
  Reading(-1000.0, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 0)),
  Reading(-1000.0, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 1)),
  Reading(-1000.0, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 2)),
  Reading(-1000.0, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 3)),
  Reading(-1000.0, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 4)),
  Reading(-1000.0, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 5)),
  Reading(90.1, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 6)),
  Reading(90.2, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 7)),
  Reading(90.2, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 8)),
  Reading(90.3, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 9)),
  Reading(90.2, LocalDateTime.of(2015, Month.JULY, 19, 10, 0, 10))
)

To drop all readings until the thermometer starts returning valid data, use Stream.dropWhile:

val valid = readings dropWhile (_.temperature == -1000.0)

// valid: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[Reading] = 
//   Stream(Reading(90.1,2015-07-19T10:00:06), 
//     Reading(90.2,2015-07-19T10:00:07), 
//     Reading(90.2,2015-07-19T10:00:08), 
//     Reading(90.3,2015-07-19T10:00:09), 
//     Reading(90.2,2015-07-19T10:00:10))

Finally, like Stream.takeWhile, Stream.dropWhile doesn’t balk if it never reaches an element that fails to meet the predicate. You just get an empty stream:

val none = Stream(1,3,4,7) dropWhile { _ < 10 }
// none: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[Int] = Stream()
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F# Friday – The Seq.skipWhile Function

Just as the analog to Seq.take is Seq.skip, the analog to Seq.takeWhile is Seq.skipWhile. That is, when you don’t care so much about skipping a certain number of items, but rather a certain kind of items.

Seq.skipWhile starts at the beginning of the sequence and applies a predicate to each item, one by one. It does not start returning items in a new sequence until it reaches an item that does not meet the predicate. Then it stops checking elements against the predicate and returns every item in the sequence from that point on:

Seq.skipWhile skips items at the beginning of a sequence until it reaches an item that does not meet the given predicate.
Skipping Items in a Sequence While a Predicate Holds

Assume you have the same temperature sensor as the one in my post on Seq.takeWhile. This time, instead of once per minute, assume that it feeds you temperature readings once per second. Add to that the idea that the sensor has a few seconds of boot-up time in which it sends you -1000.0—the indication that the current reading is invalid—until it has fully booted and can start sending good temperature data.

type Reading = {
    Temperature : float
    Timestamp : DateTime
}

let readings = 
    seq [
        { Temperature = -1000.0
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 0) }
        { Temperature = -1000.0
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 1) }
        { Temperature = -1000.0
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 2) }
        { Temperature = -1000.0
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 3) }
        { Temperature = -1000.0
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 4) }
        { Temperature = -1000.0
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 5) }
        { Temperature = 90.1
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 6) }
        { Temperature = 90.2
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 7) }
        { Temperature = 90.2
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 8) }
        { Temperature = 90.1
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 9) }
        { Temperature = 90.3
          Timestamp = DateTime(2015, 07, 19, 10, 0, 10) }
    ]

To skip all readings until the thermometer starts returning valid data, use Seq.skipWhile:

let valid = 
    readings
    |> Seq.skipWhile (fun r -> r.Temperature = -1000.0)

// val valid: seq<Reading> =
//  [{Temperature = 90.1;
//    Timestamp = 7/19/2015 10:00:06 AM};
//   {Temperature = 90.2;
//    Timestamp = 7/19/2015 10:00:07 AM};
//   {Temperature = 90.2;
//    Timestamp = 7/19/2015 10:00:08 AM};
//   {Temperature = 90.1;
//    Timestamp = 7/19/2015 10:00:09 AM};
//   {Temperature = 90.3;
//    Timestamp = 7/19/2015 10:00:10 AM}]

Finally, even though Seq.skip throws an exception if you ask it to skip more elements than the sequence contains, Seq.skipWhile does not balk if it never reaches an element that fails to meet the predicate. You just get an empty sequence:

let none = seq [1;3;4;7]
           |> Seq.skipWhile (fun n -> n < 10)
// val none : seq<int> = seq []

As of F# 4.0, there are versions of skipWhile in the Array and List modules, but as of this writing, the documentation at MSDN does not yet include them.

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Scala Saturday – The Stream.drop Method

The opposite of Stream.take is Stream.drop. Stream.drop, as the name suggests, skips the first n items of the sequence and returns a new sequence that starts with element n + 1:

val xs = (1 to 10).toStream
val dropped5 = xs drop 5
// dropped5: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[Int] =
//   Stream(6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

One of most obvious applications of Stream.drop is to pair it with Stream.take to page through a set of records. Perhaps you have a list of books:

case class Book(title: String, author: String)

val books = Stream(
  Book("Wuthering Heights", "Emily Bronte"),
  Book("Jane Eyre", "Charlotte Bronte"),
  Book("Agnes Grey", "Anne Bronte"),
  Book("The Scarlet Letter", "Nathaniel Hawthorne"),
  Book("Silas Marner", "George Eliot"),
  Book("1984", "George Orwell"),
  Book("Billy Budd", "Herman Melville"),
  Book("Moby Dick", "Herman Melville"),
  Book("The Great Gatsby", "F. Scott Fitzgerald"),
  Book("Tom Sawyer", "Mark Twain")
)

If each page shows three books, and the user wants to see the records on page three, skip the first two pages’ worth of records, and take the next three records:

val perPage = 3
val page = 3
val records = books.drop((page - 1) * perPage)
                .take(perPage)
// records: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[Book] = 
//   Stream(Book(Billy Budd,Herman Melville), 
//     Book(Moby Dick,Herman Melville), 
//     Book(The Great Gatsby,F. Scott Fitzgerald))

Fortunately, like Stream.take, if you ask the sequence for more elements than it contains, you simply get an empty stream:

val empty= (1 to 5).toStream drop 6
// empty: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[Int] =
//   Stream()
Categories
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F# Friday – The Seq.skip Function

The opposite of Seq.take is Seq.skip. Seq.skip, as the name suggests, skips the first n items of the sequence and returns a new sequence that starts with element n + 1:

let xs = seq [1..10]
let skipped5 = xs |> Seq.skip 5
// val skipped5 : seq<int> =
//   [6; 7; 8; 9; 10]

One of most obvious applications of Seq.skip is to pair it with Seq.take or Seq.truncate to page through a set of records. Perhaps you have a list of books:

type Book = 
    { Title : string
      Author : string }

let books = 
    seq [
        { Title = "Wuthering Heights"
          Author = "Emily Bronte" }
        { Title = "Jane Eyre"
          Author = "Charlotte Bronte" }
        { Title = "Agnes Grey"
          Author = "Anne Bronte" }
        { Title = "The Scarlet Letter"
          Author = "Nathaniel Hawthorne" }
        { Title = "Silas Marner"
          Author = "George Eliot" }
        { Title = "1984"
          Author = "George Orwell" }
        { Title = "Billy Budd"
          Author = "Herman Melville" }
        { Title = "Moby Dick"
          Author = "Herman Melville" }
        { Title = "The Great Gatsby"
          Author = "F. Scott Fitzgerald" }
        { Title = "Tom Sawyer"
          Author = "Mark Twain" }
    ]

If each page shows three books, and the user wants to see the records on page three, skip the first two pages’ worth of records, and take the next three records:

let perPage = 3
let page = 3
let records = 
    books
    |> Seq.skip ((page - 1) * perPage)
    |> Seq.take perPage

// val records : seq<Book> =
//   [{Title = "Billy Budd";
//     Author = "Herman Melville";};
//    {Title = "Moby Dick";
//     Author = "Herman Melville";};
//    {Title = "The Great Gatsby";
//     Author = "F. Scott Fitzgerald";}]

Unfortunately, like Seq.take, if you ask the sequence for more elements than it contains, it throws an exception:

let oops = seq [1..5]
           |> Seq.skip 6 
           |> printfn "%A"
// System.InvalidOperationException: 
//   The input sequence has an insufficient
//   number of elements.