Functional Programming Overview

What is functional programming? – Functions are first class (objects). – That is, everything you can do with “data ” can be done with functions themselves (such as passing a function to another function). – Recursion is used as a primary control structure. – In some languages, no other “loop ” construct exists. – There is a focus on list processing. – Lists are often used with recursion on sub-lists as a substitute for loops. – “Pure ” functional languages eschew side-effects. – This excludes assigments to track the program state. – This discourages the use of statements in favor of expression evalua-tions. Whys – All these characteristics make for more rapidly developed, shorter, and less bug-prone code. – A lot easier to prove formal properties of functional languages and programs than of imperative languages and programs