Path: csiph.com!aioe.org!news.mb-net.net!open-news-network.org!.POSTED.85.236.197.178.dynamic.wless.lssmb00p-cgnat.res.cust.swisscom.ch!not-for-mail
From: Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <PointedEars@web.de>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.javascript
Subject: Is JS a functional programming language? (was: Trying to create array of object literals)
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2018 02:35:02 +0200
Organization: PointedEars Software (PES)
Lines: 87
Message-ID: <1703120.hZdRbIOfhN@PointedEars.de>
References: <2ea2803e-c39d-40e0-b8ed-136c3dc9b4e0@googlegroups.com> <literal-20180412204347@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de> <3364120.8dbtfUO1ph@PointedEars.de> <4mv0ddt3bre9bbiofnvabnbamlp9jfj072@4ax.com> <15901681.8V3EAehsKz@PointedEars.de> <idl3ddhclidkc7rtn9hs90utlvb3t7a3em@4ax.com> <3dd0b784-9634-4047-b79b-a171d1e1d099@googlegroups.com> <611cba1f-e8f1-4ca1-8eb5-5e10456200d1@googlegroups.com> <pbdh4g$1rjm$1@gioia.aioe.org>
Reply-To: Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn <cljs@PointedEars.de>
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c.l.js wrote:
^^^^^^
It ill-behoves you, having so little knowledge about what you are talking 
about, to claim to speak for the entire newsgroup, and the address part of 
the “From” header of your posting is a violation of Internet standards
(RFC 5536).

You do not want anyone to report you for network abuse, do you?

> Julio Di Egidio babbled:
>> JS is a *functional* language: the modularity is modularity of *lexical*
>> constructs and contexts...  (Someone else might be able to say it
>> better.)

Modularity is not the key property of a functional programming language.
 
> Yes, JavaScript is a "functional" language. Here is an example:
> 
> class Moron {
>    constructor(name) {
>      this.name = name;
>    }
>    speak() {
>      alert(`${this.name} says:
>        "JS is a functional language."`);
>    }
> }

Note that the “speak” method of the “Moron” class is implemented as an 
*object*, a *Function* *instance*.

Note also that this does not work in several earlier implementations of 
ECMAScript, where you have to write

  function Moron (name)
  {
    this.name = name;
  }

  Moron.prototype.speak = function () {
    window.alert(this.name
      + ' says: "JS is not a functional programming language."');
  };

  (new Moron('The troll posting as "c.l.js"')).speak();

or something to that effect, instead.
 
> var Julio = new Moron('Julio');
> Julio.speak();

    [It is the standing recommendation that only class, constructor, and
     constant identifiers should start with a capital letter (after leading
     “_”s are trimmed.  “Julio” is an *instance* and a *variable*; the
     identifier should start lowercase.]

Your unnecessary insult aside:

Functional programming is a programming *paradigm*.  A functional 
programming language is a programming language where functions are first-
class objects: they can appear on the right-hand side of an assignment 
expression and/or they can be passed as arguments to other functions.  
*Functional programming is _not_, in general, a contradiction to object-
oriented programming.*

Proof that JS is/are (a) functional programming language(s) has been given 
implicitly above.  Another example:

  var f = Julio.speak;
  (function (func) { func.call({name: "Thomas ‘PointedEars’ Lahn"}); }(f));

To be more precise, implementations of ECMAScript, such as the languages 
that have “JavaScript” in their name, are procedural-imperative, functional 
and object-oriented programming languages that support both the prototype-
based and (to some extent) class-based inheritance programming paradigm.

*That* they support *all* of *those* programming paradigms, in *addition* to 
others, is an important reason for their versatility and wide distribution.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm>

See also the FAQ (referred below).

-- 
PointedEars
FAQ: <http://PointedEars.de/faq> | <http://PointedEars.de/es-matrix>
<https://github.com/PointedEars> | <http://PointedEars.de/wsvn/>
Twitter: @PointedEars2 | Please do not cc me./Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail.