4 ms·

How? Functions are first class in lisp.

• crimsonalucard 9y ago
  First class functions do not make a programming language functional.
• davexunit 9y ago
  Functional programming is but one of the many paradigms that you can use in Lisp, along with imperative, object-oriented, relational, etc. When you say a language is a functional language, you are saying that it is the paradigm supported, which is not the case here.
  • concede_pluto 9y ago
    Lisp has lots of mutable types and lots of ways to smuggle them into and out of a procedure. I'd say pure functions are tolerated but not supported. Still hard to beat for creating domain-specific languages, though, and a carefully designed DSL can rule out nondeterminism and side effects.
    • davexunit 9y ago
      A language need not force purity to allow for purely functional programs. Besides, purely functional languages all need a way to cheat to actually do anything useful. Any nontrivial program needs a mix of paradigms.