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C *does* support first class functions; they dont' need to be created "dynamically" |
rv; C does not support first class functions as defined here; this was carefully explained; no need to delete explanations |
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Support for first class functions is widely considered to be a required feature for [[functional programming language]]s. [[Lisp programming language|Lisp]], [[Scheme programming language|Scheme]], [[ML programming language|ML]], and [[Haskell programming language|Haskell]] are examples of functional programming languages that support first class functions.
Most modern programming languages support functions defined statically at compile time. [[C programming language|C]] additionally supports function pointers, which can be stored in data structures and passed as arguments to other functions. Nevertheless, C is not considered to support first class functions, since in general functions cannot be created dynamically during the execution of a program. The closest analog in C is that of a dynamically compiled function created by a [[just-in-time compiler]], which is compiled as an array of [[machine language]] instructions in memory and then cast to a function pointer. However, this technique is specific to the underlying hardware architecture and is therefore neither general nor portable.
==See also==
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