Chapter 15

Functional
Programming
Languages
 Chapter 15 Topics
• Introduction
• Mathematical Functions
• Fundamentals of Functional Programming Languages
• The First Functional Programming Language: LISP
• Introduction to Scheme
• Common LISP
• ML
• Haskell
• F#
• Support for Functional Programming in Primarily
Imperative Languages
• Comparison of Functional and Imperative Languages

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Introduction

• The design of the imperative languages is

based directly on the von Neumann
architecture
– Efficiency is the primary concern, rather than
the suitability of the language for software
development
• The design of the functional languages is
based on mathematical functions
– A solid theoretical basis that is also closer to
the user, but relatively unconcerned with the
architecture of the machines on which
programs will run
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Mathematical Functions

• A mathematical function is a mapping of

members of one set, called the domain
set, to another set, called the range set
• A lambda expression specifies the
parameter(s) and the mapping of a
function in the following form
(x) x * x * x
for the function cube(x) = x * x * x

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Lambda Expressions

• Lambda expressions describe nameless

functions
• Lambda expressions are applied to
parameter(s) by placing the parameter(s)
after the expression
e.g., ((x) x * x * x)(2)
which evaluates to 8

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Functional Forms

• A higher-order function, or functional

form, is one that either takes functions as
parameters or yields a function as its
result, or both

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Function Composition

• A functional form that takes two functions

as parameters and yields a function
whose value is the first actual parameter
function applied to the application of the
second
Form: h  f ° g
which means h (x)  f ( g ( x))
For f (x)  x + 2 and g (x)  3 * x,
h  f ° g yields (3 * x)+ 2

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Apply-to-all

• A functional form that takes a single

function as a parameter and yields a list
of values obtained by applying the given
function to each element of a list of
parameters
Form: 
For h(x)  x * x
(h, (2, 3, 4)) yields (4, 9, 16)

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 Fundamentals of Functional
Programming Languages
• The objective of the design of a FPL is to mimic
mathematical functions to the greatest extent possible
• The basic process of computation is fundamentally
different in a FPL than in an imperative language
– In an imperative language, operations are done and the
results are stored in variables for later use
– Management of variables is a constant concern and
source of complexity for imperative programming
• In an FPL, variables are not necessary, as is the case in
mathematics
• Referential Transparency - In an FPL, the evaluation of
a function always produces the same result given the
same parameters

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Origins of Scheme

• A mid-1970s dialect of LISP, designed to

be a cleaner, more modern, and simpler
version than the contemporary dialects of
LISP
• Uses only static scoping
• Functions are first-class entities
– They can be the values of expressions and
elements of lists
– They can be assigned to variables, passed as
parameters, and returned from functions

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The Scheme Interpreter

• In interactive mode, the Scheme

interpreter is an infinite read-evaluate-
print loop (REPL)
– This form of interpreter is also used by Python
and Ruby
• Expressions are interpreted by the
function EVAL
• Literals evaluate to themselves

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Primitive Function Evaluation

• Parameters are evaluated, in no

particular order
• The values of the parameters are
substituted into the function body
• The function body is evaluated
• The value of the last expression in the
body is the value of the function

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Primitive Functions & LAMBDA
Expressions
• Primitive Arithmetic Functions: +, -, *, /, ABS, SQRT,
REMAINDER, MIN, MAX
e.g., (+ 5 2) yields 7

• Lambda Expressions
– Form is based on  notation
e.g., (LAMBDA (x) (* x x)
x is called a bound variable

• Lambda expressions can be applied to parameters

e.g., ((LAMBDA (x) (* x x)) 7)

• LAMBDA expressions can have any number of parameters

(LAMBDA (a b x) (+ (* a x x) (* b x)))
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Special Form Function: DEFINE
• DEFINE - Two forms:
1. To bind a symbol to an expression
e.g., (DEFINE pi 3.141593)
Example use: (DEFINE two_pi (* 2 pi))
These symbols are not variables – they are like the names
bound by Java’s final declarations
2. To bind names to lambda expressions (LAMBDA is
implicit)
e.g., (DEFINE (square x) (* x x))
Example use: (square 5)

- The evaluation process for DEFINE is different! The first

parameter is never evaluated. The second parameter
is evaluated and bound to the first parameter.

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Output Functions

• Usually not needed, because the interpreter

always displays the result of a function
evaluated at the top level (not nested)
• Scheme has PRINTF, which is similar to the
printf function of C
• Note: explicit input and output are not part
of the pure functional programming model,
because input operations change the state
of the program and output operations are
side effects

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Numeric Predicate Functions

• #T (or #t) is true and #F (or #f) is false

(sometimes () is used for false)
• =, <>, >, <, >=, <=
• EVEN?, ODD?, ZERO?, NEGATIVE?

• The NOT function inverts the logic of a

Boolean expression

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Control Flow
• Selection- the special form, IF
(IF predicate then_exp else_exp)
(IF (<> count 0)
(/ sum count)
)
• Recall from Chapter 8 the COND function:
(DEFINE (leap? year)
(COND
((ZERO? (MODULO year 400)) #T)
((ZERO? (MODULO year 100)) #F)
(ELSE (ZERO? (MODULO year 4)))
))

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List Functions
• QUOTE - takes one parameter; returns the
parameter without evaluation
– QUOTE is required because the Scheme interpreter,
named EVAL, always evaluates parameters to function
applications before applying the function. QUOTE is
used to avoid parameter evaluation when it is not
appropriate
– QUOTE can be abbreviated with the apostrophe prefix
operator
'(A B) is equivalent to (QUOTE (A B))

• Recall that CAR, CDR, and CONS were covered

in Chapter 6

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 List Functions (continued)

• Examples:
(CAR ′((A B) C D)) returns (A B)
(CAR ′A) is an error
(CDR ′((A B) C D)) returns (C D)
(CDR ′A) is an error
(CDR ′(A)) returns ()
(CONS ′() ′(A B)) returns (() A B)
(CONS ′(A B) ′(C D)) returns ((A B) C D)
(CONS ′A ′B) returns (A . B) (a dotted pair)

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List Functions (continued)

• LIST is a function for building a list from

any number of parameters
(LIST ′apple ′orange ′grape) returns
(apple orange grape)

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Predicate Function: EQ?

• EQ? takes two expressions as parameters

(usually two atoms); it returns #T if both
parameters have the same pointer value;
otherwise #F
(EQ? 'A 'A) yields #T
(EQ? 'A 'B) yields #F
(EQ? 'A '(A B)) yields #F
(EQ? '(A B) '(A B)) yields #T or #F
(EQ? 3.4 (+ 3 0.4))) yields #T or #F

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Predicate Function: EQV?

• EQV? is like EQ?, except that it works for both

symbolic and numeric atoms; it is a value
comparison, not a pointer comparison
(EQV? 3 3) yields #T
(EQV? 'A 3) yields #F
(EQV 3.4 (+ 3 0.4)) yields #T
(EQV? 3.0 3) yields #F (floats and integers are
different)

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Predicate Functions: LIST? and NULL?

• LIST? takes one parameter; it returns #T if

the parameter is a list; otherwise #F
(LIST? '()) yields #T
• NULL? takes one parameter; it returns #T if
the parameter is the empty list; otherwise
#F
(NULL? '(())) yields #F

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Example Scheme Function:
member
• member takes an atom and a simple list;
returns #T if the atom is in the list; #F
otherwise
DEFINE (member atm a_list)
(COND
((NULL? a_list) #F)
((EQ? atm (CAR lis)) #T)
((ELSE (member atm (CDR a_list)))
))

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Example Scheme Function: equalsimp

• equalsimp takes two simple lists as parameters;

returns #T if the two simple lists are equal; #F
otherwise
(DEFINE (equalsimp list1 list2)
(COND
((NULL? list1) (NULL? list2))
((NULL? list2) #F)
((EQ? (CAR list1) (CAR list2))
(equalsimp(CDR list1)(CDR
list2)))
(ELSE #F)
))
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Example Scheme Function: equal
• equal takes two general lists as parameters;
returns #T if the two lists are equal; #F otherwise
(DEFINE (equal list1 list2)
(COND
((NOT (LIST? list1))(EQ? list1
list2))
((NOT (LIST? lis2)) #F)
((NULL? list1) (NULL? list2))
((NULL? list2) #F)
((equal (CAR list1) (CAR list2))
(equal (CDR list1) (CDR list2)))
(ELSE #F)
))
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Example Scheme Function:
append
• append takes two lists as parameters; returns the
first parameter list with the elements of the
second parameter list appended at the end
(DEFINE (append list1 list2)
(COND
((NULL? list1) list2)
(ELSE (CONS (CAR list1)
(append (CDR list1) list2)))
))

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Example Scheme Function: LET

• Recall that LET was discussed in Chapter 5

• LET is actually shorthand for a LAMBDA
expression applied to a parameter

(LET ((alpha 7))(* 5 alpha))

is the same as:
((LAMBDA (alpha) (* 5 alpha)) 7)

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LET Example

(DEFINE (quadratic_roots a b c)
(LET (
(root_part_over_2a
(/ (SQRT (- (* b b) (* 4 a c)))(* 2 a)))
(minus_b_over_2a (/ (- 0 b) (* 2 a)))
(LIST (+ minus_b_over_2a root_part_over_2a))
(- minus_b_over_2a root_part_over_2a))
))

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Tail Recursion in Scheme

• Definition: A function is tail recursive if its

recursive call is the last operation in the
function
• A tail recursive function can be
automatically converted by a compiler to
use iteration, making it faster
• Scheme language definition requires that
Scheme language systems convert all tail
recursive functions to use iteration

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Tail Recursion in Scheme - continued

• Example of rewriting a function to make it tail

recursive, using helper a function
Original: (DEFINE (factorial n)
(IF (<= n 0)
1
(* n (factorial (- n 1)))
))
Tail recursive: (DEFINE (facthelper n factpartial)
(IF (<= n 0)
factpartial
facthelper((- n 1) (* n factpartial)))
))
(DEFINE (factorial n)
(facthelper n 1))

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Common LISP

• A combination of many of the features of the

popular dialects of LISP around in the early 1980s
• A large and complex language--the opposite of
Scheme
• Features include:
– records
– arrays
– complex numbers
– character strings
– powerful I/O capabilities
– packages with access control
– iterative control statements

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ML
• A static-scoped functional language with syntax
that is closer to Pascal than to LISP
• Uses type declarations, but also does type
inferencing to determine the types of undeclared
variables
• It is strongly typed (whereas Scheme is essentially
typeless) and has no type coercions
• Does not have imperative-style variables
• Its identifiers are untyped names for values
• Includes exception handling and a module facility
for implementing abstract data types
• Includes lists and list operations
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Haskell

• Similar to ML (syntax, static scoped, strongly typed, type

inferencing, pattern matching)
• Different from ML (and most other functional languages) in
that it is purely functional (e.g., no variables, no assignment
statements, and no side effects of any kind)
Syntax differences from ML
fact 0 = 1
fact 1 = 1
fact n = n * fact (n – 1)

fib 0 = 1
fib 1 = 1
fib (n + 2) = fib (n + 1) + fib n

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F#

• Based on Ocaml, which is a descendant of ML

and Haskell
• Fundamentally a functional language, but with
imperative features and supports OOP
• Has a full-featured IDE, an extensive library of
utilities, and interoperates with other .NET
languages
• Includes tuples, lists, discriminated unions,
records, and both mutable and immutable arrays
• Supports generic sequences, whose values can
be created with generators and through iteration

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F# (continued)

• Why F# is Interesting:
– It builds on previous functional languages
– It supports virtually all programming
methodologies in widespread use today
– It is the first functional language that is
designed for interoperability with other widely
used languages
– At its release, it had an elaborate and well-
developed IDE and library of utility software

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Comparing Functional and Imperative
Languages
• Imperative Languages:
– Efficient execution
– Complex semantics
– Complex syntax
– Concurrency is programmer designed
• Functional Languages:
– Simple semantics
– Simple syntax
– Less efficient execution
– Programs can automatically be made
concurrent

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Summary
• Functional programming languages use function
application, conditional expressions, recursion, and
functional forms to control program execution
• LISP began as a purely functional language and later
included imperative features
• Scheme is a relatively simple dialect of LISP that uses
static scoping exclusively
• Common LISP is a large LISP-based language
• ML is a static-scoped and strongly typed functional
language that uses type inference
• Haskell is a lazy functional language supporting infinite
lists and set comprehension.
• F# is a .NET functional language that also supports
imperative and object-oriented programming
• Some primarily imperative languages now incorporate
some support for functional programming
• Purely functional languages have advantages over
imperative alternatives, but still are not very widely used
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