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This definition recognizes a lambda abstraction with an actual parameter as defining a function. Only lambda abstractions without an application are treated as anonymous functions. lambda-named A named function. An expression like (.) where M is lambda free and N is lambda free or an anonymous function.
The names "lambda abstraction", "lambda function", and "lambda expression" refer to the notation of function abstraction in lambda calculus, where the usual function f (x) = M would be written (λx. M), and where M is an expression that uses x. Compare to the Python syntax of lambda x: M.
A simple example of a higher-ordered function is the map function, which takes, as its arguments, a function and a list, and returns the list formed by applying the function to each member of the list. For a language to support map, it must support passing a function as an argument.
This is done by adding another parameter to the basic recursive function and using this parameter as the function for the recursive call. This creates a higher-order function, and passing this higher function itself allows anonymous recursion within the actual recursive function.
A recursive function named foo, which is passed a single parameter, x, and if the parameter is 0 will call a different function named bar and otherwise will call baz, passing x, and also call itself recursively, passing x-1 as the parameter, could be implemented like this in Python:
In contrast, partial function application refers to the process of fixing a number of arguments to a function, producing another function of smaller arity. Given the definition of f {\displaystyle f} above, we might fix (or 'bind') the first argument, producing a function of type partial ( f ) : ( Y × Z ) → N {\displaystyle {\text{partial ...
In lambda calculus, each function has exactly one parameter. What is thought of as functions with multiple parameters is usually represented in lambda calculus as a function which takes the first argument, and returns a function which takes the rest of the arguments; this is a transformation known as currying.
Higher-order programming is a style of computer programming that uses software components, like functions, modules or objects, as values. It is usually instantiated with, or borrowed from, models of computation such as lambda calculus which make heavy use of higher-order functions. A programming language can be considered higher-order if ...