Functional programming

• Authors: David S. Wise
• Venue: Encyclopedia of Computer Science
• Year: 2003

Functional programming, also called applicative programming, is a style that uses function application as the only control structure (q.v.). Rather than conditional statements, one uses conditional expressions to yield alternative results; rather than an assignment statement, one uses binding (q.v.) of parameter to argument to give a name to a value; rather than explicit sequencing or looping of control flow, one uses patterns of nested invocations to direct the generation of an result. Of immediate importance for general problem-solving is that, just as a function may take several arguments, a result can have several components.