3 ms·
How about: "Concatenative programming style emphasizes function composition over function application. Complex operations are composed from many simpler operat
by jeffdavis 8y ago
How about:
"Concatenative programming style emphasizes function composition over function application. Complex operations are composed from many simpler operations, and the actual program input or state does not need to be referred to explicitly. Often, these composed operations resemble a data flow or pipeline, where the implicit input is passed along to each operation in sequence."
(Disclaimer: not an expert on this style, just offering my own description that is hopefully correct and easier to understand.)
- bunderbunder 8y agoFunctional programming also emphasizes function composition. Especially anything that takes its intellectual heritage from John Backus. (viz, not lisp.) His seminal paper on the subject emphasized that, in well-designed functional languages, functions take only a single argument, because that's necessary to support a good composition-oriented programming style. I think the root of the distinction is more about how you achieve that composition: Does it smell more like Alonzo Church or Alan Turing?