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The names "lambda abstraction", "lambda function", and "lambda expression" refer to the notation of function abstraction in lambda calculus, where the usual function f (x) = M would be written (λx. M), and where M is an expression that uses x. Compare to the Python syntax of lambda x: M.
In Python, functions are first-class objects that can be created and passed around dynamically. Python's limited support for anonymous functions is the lambda construct. An example is the anonymous function which squares its input, called with the argument of 5:
The term closure is often used as a synonym for anonymous function, though strictly, an anonymous function is a function literal without a name, while a closure is an instance of a function, a value, whose non-local variables have been bound either to values or to storage locations (depending on the language; see the lexical environment section below).
In fact computability can itself be defined via the lambda calculus: a function F: N → N of natural numbers is a computable function if and only if there exists a lambda expression f such that for every pair of x, y in N, F(x)=y if and only if f x = β y, where x and y are the Church numerals corresponding to x and y, respectively and = β ...
A function's identity is based on its implementation. A lambda calculus function (or term) is an implementation of a mathematical function. In the lambda calculus there are a number of combinators (implementations) that satisfy the mathematical definition of a fixed-point combinator.
Lisp functions were defined using Church's lambda notation, extended with a label construct to allow recursive functions. [41] Lisp first introduced many paradigmatic features of functional programming, though early Lisps were multi-paradigm languages , and incorporated support for numerous programming styles as new paradigms evolved.
In this manner, function definition expressions of the kind shown above can be thought of as the variable binding operator, analogous to the lambda expressions of lambda calculus. Other binding operators, like the summation sign, can be thought of as higher-order functions applying to a function. So, for example, the expression
Lambda expression may refer to: Lambda expression in computer programming, also called an anonymous function , is a defined function not bound to an identifier. Lambda expression in lambda calculus , a formal system in mathematical logic and computer science for expressing computation by way of variable binding and substitution.