Better way to write this code in functional manner using map and reduce?

I have an array of items on which I have to perform 2 tasks:

• Applying a function on the array item

• Checking if the value is true or false.

The functional approach to solving this would be

var result = arr.map(function(item){return some_action(item);}).filter(function(item){return other_action(item) == true;});

But here the array arr is traversed twice in comparison to

var result = [];
arr.forEach(function(item){
    var x = other_action(some_action(item));
    if (x)
        result.push(x);
});

Isn't the functional approach bad in this case or am I not using map and filter the right way?

Your “functional” approach is overly complicated. Notice that this is completely equivalent:

var result = arr.map(some_action).filter(other_action);

I.e. If you're only delegating to another function, you can specify that function directly. Also, an == true test is superfluous.

Your “procedural” variant is not equivalent, that would have to be:

var result = [];
arr.forEach(function(item){
    var changedItem = some_action(item);
    if (other_action(changedItem))
        result.push(changedItem);
});

Note that both variants have the same algorithmic complexity, and that the cost of iteration is likely negligible compared with the cost of some_action and other_action.

Functional programming does not mean unreadable code. Even if you're not just delegating to another function, you could improve formatting, e.g. to

var result = arr.map(function (item) {
  return some_action(item);
}).filter(function (item) {
  return other_action(item);
});

StackExchange Code Review Q#40541, answer score: 8