If you're looking for this argument in a language closer to home, it's basically the opposite of your IDE's style guide: If I write this Java: pair.map((a,

If you're looking for this argument in a language closer to home, it's basically the opposite of your IDE's style guide: If I write this Java: pair.map((a, b) -> Foo.merge(a, b)); My IDE flashes up with Lambda can be replaced with method reference and gives me pair.map(Foo::merge); (TFA does not seem to be arguing against the idea of partial-function-application itself, as much as he wants languages to be explicit about using the full lambda terms and function-call-parentheses.)