In programming and mathematics, a functional form is an operator or function that can either be applied to other operators (i.e. one or more of its operands or arguments are itself operators) or yield operators as result, or both. It is, thus, essentially the same as a higher-order function, although the syntax may be more reminiscent of (pre-, post-, or infix) operators applied to operands, rather than function application in the lambda calculus tradition. Examples of functional forms are function composition, construction, and apply-to-all, but there are numerous others.
Famous quotes containing the words functional and/or form:
“Indigenous to Minnesota, and almost completely ignored by its people, are the stark, unornamented, functional clusters of concrete—Minnesota’s grain elevators. These may be said to express unconsciously all the principles of modernism, being built for use only, with little regard for the tenets of esthetic design.”
—Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)