Argo really wants to be used with patterns borrowed from functional programming
such as map (<^>) and apply (<*>). We feel that these patterns greatly
reduce the pain felt in trying to use JSON (an inherently loosely typed format)
with Swift (a strictly typed language). It also gives us a way to succinctly
maintain Argo's core concept, and short circuit the decoding process if any part
of it fails.
Additionally, we feel that the use of operators for these functions greatly improves the readability of the code we're suggesting. Using named functions would lead to nested functions and a confusing number of parenthesis.
If you aren't familiar with how these functions work (or just aren't comfortable with using operators), that's totally OK. It's possible to use the library without using them, although it might be a little more painful.
If you're looking to learn more about these functions, we would recommend reading the following articles:
And check out this talk: