fundamentals of FPL

FUNDAMENTALS OF FUNCTIONAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES

• A purely functional programming language does not use variables or assignment statements
• Without variables, iterative constructs are not possible, for they are controlled by variables
• Repetition must be done by recursion rather than by repetition
• Programs are function definitions and function application specifications, and executions consists of evaluating  the function applications
• The execution of a function always produces the same result when given the same parameters – this is called referential transparency.
• A functional language provides a set of primitive functions, a set of functional forms to construct complex functions from those primitive functions, a function application operation, and some structure or structures for representing data.
• Functional languages are often implemented with interpreters but they are also compiled.