Difference between revisions of "Lambda abstraction"
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− | A ''lambda abstraction'' is another name for an [[anonymous function]]. It gets its name from the usual notation for writing it: for example, <math>\lambda x \to x^2</math>. (Another common |
+ | A ''lambda abstraction'' is another name for an [[anonymous function]]. It gets its name from the usual notation for writing it: for example, <math>\lambda x \to x^2</math>. (Another common, equivalent notation is: <math>\lambda x . \ x^2</math>.) |
− | In Haskell source code, the Greek letter lambda is replaced by a backslash character ('<hask>\</hask>') instead, since this is easier to type and requires only the basic 7-bit ASCII character set. Similarly, the arrow is replaced with the |
+ | In Haskell source code, the Greek letter lambda is replaced by a backslash character ('<hask>\</hask>') instead, since this is easier to type and requires only the basic 7-bit ASCII character set. Similarly, the arrow is replaced with the ASCII character sequence '<hask>-></hask>'. So, for example, the lambda abstraction above would be written in Haskell as |
<haskell> |
<haskell> |
Latest revision as of 19:54, 13 July 2007
A lambda abstraction is another name for an anonymous function. It gets its name from the usual notation for writing it: for example, . (Another common, equivalent notation is: .)
In Haskell source code, the Greek letter lambda is replaced by a backslash character ('\
') instead, since this is easier to type and requires only the basic 7-bit ASCII character set. Similarly, the arrow is replaced with the ASCII character sequence '->
'. So, for example, the lambda abstraction above would be written in Haskell as
\ x -> x * x
There is actually a whole mathematical theory devoted to expressing computation entirely using lambda abstractions: the lambda calculus. Most functional programming languages (including Haskell) are based upon some extension of this idea.
When a lambda abstraction is applied to a value—for instance, —the result of the expression is determined by replacing every free occurrence of the parameter variable (in this case ) with the parameter value (in this case ). This is a beta reduction.