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In computer programming, an anonymous function (function literal, expression or block) is a function definition that is not bound to an identifier.Anonymous functions are often arguments being passed to higher-order functions or used for constructing the result of a higher-order function that needs to return a function. [1]
The above example is an expression that evaluates to a first-class function. The symbol lambda creates an anonymous function, given a list of parameter names, x – just a single argument in this case, and an expression that is evaluated as the body of the function, x**2. Anonymous functions are sometimes called lambda expressions.
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).
Anonymous recursion is primarily of use in allowing recursion for anonymous functions, particularly when they form closures or are used as callbacks, to avoid having to bind the name of the function. Anonymous recursion primarily consists of calling "the current function", which results in direct recursion.
In programming languages that support anonymous functions, fixed-point combinators allow the definition and use of anonymous recursive functions, i.e. without having to bind such functions to identifiers. In this setting, the use of fixed-point combinators is sometimes called anonymous recursion. [note 4] [23]
Non-local variables are the primary reason it is difficult to support nested, anonymous, higher-order and thereby first-class functions in a programming language. If the nested function or functions are (mutually) recursive, it becomes hard for the compiler to know exactly where on the call stack the non-local variable was allocated, as the frame pointer only points to the local variable of ...
Wikifunctions is a collaboratively edited catalog of computer functions to enable the creation, modification, and reuse of source code. [2] [3] It is closely related to Abstract Wikipedia, an extension of Wikidata to create a language-independent version of Wikipedia using its structured data.
Search for the deepest named or anonymous function definition, so that when the lift is applied the function lifted will become a simple equation. This definition recognizes a lambda abstraction with an actual parameter as defining a function. Only lambda abstractions without an application are treated as anonymous functions. lambda-named