Programming Languages: Concepts and Implementation

8.7 Chapter Summary

The concepts of partial function application and currying lead to a modular style of functional programming when applied as and with other higher-order functions (HOFs). Partial function application refers to the concept that if a function— which accepts at least one parameter—is invoked with only an argument for its first parameter (i.e., partially applied), it returns a new function accepting the arguments for the remaining parameters; the new function, when invoked with arguments for those parameters, yields the same result as would have been returned had the original function been invoked with arguments for all of its parameters (i.e., a complete function application). Currying refers to converting an n-ary function into ...