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Re: Functions vs OOP

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On 9/4/2011 4:13 AM, tinnews@isbd.co.uk wrote:
> Ian Kelly<ian.g.kelly@gmail.com>  wrote:

>> Functional programming is about using functions in the *mathematical*
>> sense.  A mathematical function maps one value (or tuple of values) to
>> another value.  The mapped value never varies; if it did, it would be
>> a different function.  So functional programming eschews the use of
>> functions where the results depend on any internal or external state
>> beyond the values of the passed-in arguments, such as the variable
>> state of the object the method is being called on.
>>
> I think there may be another issue here.  If someone says "functional
> programming" to me then I would generally assume that they *do* mean
> "programming using functions".  While your distinction of the two may
> be strictly correct I don't think it's the generally accepted meaning.

The distintion drawn by Ian *is* generally accepted in computer science. See
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Functional_programming
For instance, programming is C is imperative programming with functions 
but it generally is not 'functional programming' in the sense referred 
to by Ian and the Wikipedia article. Given that our docs are written by 
people who do understand the technical distinction, you are probably 
wrong to assume otherwise.

However, as I said to William, it is possible that our docs could be 
improved so as to not depend on all readers having prior knowledge of 
the intended meaning of 'functional programming'. As the use of Python 
has expanded, so has the variety of backgrounds of Python programmers.

-- 
Terry Jan Reedy

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Thread

Functions vs OOP William Gill <noreply@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-03 12:15 -0400
  Re: Functions vs OOP Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-09-04 02:25 +1000
    Re: Functions vs OOP Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-09-03 15:15 -0400
      Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <noreply@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-03 17:34 -0400
        Re: Functions vs OOP Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2011-09-04 07:39 +1000
          Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <nospam@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-03 17:58 -0400
        Re: Functions vs OOP Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-09-03 21:51 -0400
          Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <noreply@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-03 22:18 -0400
    Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <nospam@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-05 14:58 -0400
  Re: Functions vs OOP MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2011-09-03 17:29 +0100
    Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <noreply@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-03 17:09 -0400
  Re: Functions vs OOP Ian Kelly <ian.g.kelly@gmail.com> - 2011-09-03 12:50 -0600
    Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <noreply@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-03 17:13 -0400
    Re: Functions vs OOP tinnews@isbd.co.uk - 2011-09-04 09:13 +0100
      Re: Functions vs OOP Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-09-04 21:18 +1000
      Re: Functions vs OOP Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-09-04 14:32 -0400
        Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <nospam@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-04 15:43 -0400
          Re: Functions vs OOP Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2011-09-05 09:41 +1000
            Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <nospam@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-04 20:46 -0400
            Re: Functions vs OOP Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2011-09-05 10:59 +1000
  Re: Functions vs OOP rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2011-09-04 06:13 -0700
    Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <noreply@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-05 13:45 -0400
      Re: Functions vs OOP Jean-Michel Pichavant <jeanmichel@sequans.com> - 2011-09-05 21:04 +0200
        Re: Functions vs OOP William Gill <nospam@domain.invalid> - 2011-09-05 20:30 -0400
      Re: Functions vs OOP Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2011-09-05 18:55 -0400

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