Introduction
In the function-level style of programming, a program is built directly from programs that are given at the outset, by combining them with program-forming operations or functionals. Thus, in contrast with the value-level approach that applies the given programs to values to form a succession of values culminating in the desired result value, the function-level approach applies program-forming operations to the given programs to form a succession of programs culminating in the desired result program.
As a result, the function-level approach to programming invites study of the space of programs under program-forming operations, looking to derive useful algebraic properties of these program-forming operations. The function-level approach offers the possibility of making the set of programs a mathematical space by emphasizing the algebraic properties of the program-forming operations over the space of programs.
Another potential advantage of the function-level view is the ability to use only strict functions and thereby have bottom-up semantics, which are the simplest kind of all. Yet another is the existence of function level definitions that are not the lifted (that is, lifted from a lower value-level to a higher function-level) image of any existing value-level one: these (often terse) function-level definitions represent a more powerful style of programming not available at the value-level and, arguably, are often easier to understand and reason about.
Read more about this topic: Function-level Programming
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