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:
“In short, the building becomes a theatrical demonstration of its functional ideal. In this romanticism, High-Tech architecture is, of course, no different in spirit—if totally different in form—from all the romantic architecture of the past.”
—Dan Cruickshank (b. 1949)
“[One cannot express lack of knowledge in affirmative language.] This idea is more firmly grasped in the form of interrogation: “What do I know?”Mthe words I bear as a motto, inscribed over a pair of scales.”
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