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That's why Clojure calls it "partial" to indicate you're doing partial application http://conj.io/store/v0/org.clojure/clojure/1.7.0-alpha4/clj/clojure.core/par

by yogthos 12y ago

That's why Clojure calls it "partial" to indicate you're doing partial application http://conj.io/store/v0/org.clojure/clojure/1.7.0-alpha4/clj/clojure.core/partial/ http://conj.io/store/v0/org.clojure/clojure/1.7.0-alpha4/clj...

warbiscuit 12y ago
Was posting to suggest exactly that, it's also what Python calls it (https://docs.python.org/2/library/functools.html#functools.partial https://docs.python.org/2/library/functools.html#functools.p...), and a "partially evaluted / filled out" function basically encapsulated the whole concept.
jonlachlan 12y ago
Again, your description refers to "partial application", which is different from currying. I think that many people are comfortable with "currying" only because they think it's the same as partial application. The fact that this is incorrect is good reason to revisit the term.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > I think that many people are comfortable with "currying" only because they think it's the same as partial application. If currying was the same as partial application, I'd say we don't need the name "currying" and can just use "partial application". So I guess you could say that I am comfortable with currying only because I don't think it is the same as partial application.
  - jonlachlan 12y ago
    Good point. It's a bit of a wonder why so many people think of them as equivalent (perhaps they thought currying was a convenient shorthand for partial application). I'm comfortable with a simple campaign to clarify the difference, and I think my suggested terms would be helpful to accomplish that (so rather than replacements, simply informal descriptions of the term).
dragonwriter 12y ago
Partial application isn't currying; partially applying a function f to a first argument x is equivalent to currying f, applying the resulting unary function to x, and uncurrying the function that results from that application. So, partial application can be defined in terms of currying, application, and uncurrying, but its not the same as currying.

by yogthos 12y ago

warbiscuit 12y ago

Was posting to suggest exactly that, it's also what Python calls it (https://docs.python.org/2/library/functools.html#functools.partial https://docs.python.org/2/library/functools.html#functools.p...), and a "partially evaluted / filled out" function basically encapsulated the whole concept.

jonlachlan 12y ago

Again, your description refers to "partial application", which is different from currying. I think that many people are comfortable with "currying" only because they think it's the same as partial application. The fact that this is incorrect is good reason to revisit the term.

dragonwriter 12y ago
> I think that many people are comfortable with "currying" only because they think it's the same as partial application. If currying was the same as partial application, I'd say we don't need the name "currying" and can just use "partial application". So I guess you could say that I am comfortable with currying only because I don't think it is the same as partial application.
- jonlachlan 12y ago
  Good point. It's a bit of a wonder why so many people think of them as equivalent (perhaps they thought currying was a convenient shorthand for partial application). I'm comfortable with a simple campaign to clarify the difference, and I think my suggested terms would be helpful to accomplish that (so rather than replacements, simply informal descriptions of the term).

dragonwriter 12y ago

Partial application isn't currying; partially applying a function f to a first argument x is equivalent to currying f, applying the resulting unary function to x, and uncurrying the function that results from that application. So, partial application can be defined in terms of currying, application, and uncurrying, but its not the same as currying.