Wrote something similar in Python, even called it the same! def pipe(init_val, *funcs): """Apply `init_val` to the composition of `funcs` pipe(

Wrote something similar in Python, even called it the same! def pipe(init_val, *funcs): """Apply `init_val` to the composition of `funcs` pipe(init, func1, func2, ..., funcn) -> funcn(...(func2(func1(init_val)))) """ return functools.reduce(lambda val, func: func(val), funcs, init_val) Check out clojure's threading macros[1] which extends that to taking forms, where the current value is spliced in as the first or last argument. e.g., with ->> (thread-last): (->> '(3 4 5) (map 1+) (reduce +)) ;; 15 Fits the bill for short functions, and you can still have lambdas for when you really need them. [1] https://clojure.org/guides/threading_macros https://clojure.org/guides/threading_macros