First-class function: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:02, 28 May 2007

Revision as of 16:07, 16 July 2007

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{{Mergeto|First-class object|date=February 2007}}

{{Mergefrom|Function literal|date=March 2007}}

In [[computer science]], a [[programming language]] is said to support '''first-class functions''' if it treats [[function (programming)|function]]s as [[first-class object]]s. Specifically, this means that the language supports constructing new functions during the execution of a program, storing them in data structures, passing them as arguments to other functions, and returning them as the values of other functions. This concept doesn't cover any means external to the language and program ([[metaprogramming]]), such as invoking a [[compiler]] or an [[eval]] function to create a new function.