How to Use Functional Programming Features in Python?

Author(s): Chiapeilie

Originally published on Towards AI.

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Functional programming (FP) is a programming paradigm that emphasizes the use of pure functions for computation and data processing.

Although Python is not a purely functional programming language, it offers many features that support functional programming, including anonymous functions (lambda), higher-order functions, immutable data structures, and numerous functional programming libraries and modules.

Pure functions are one of the core concepts in functional programming. A pure function always returns the same output given the same input and has no side effects. Side effects refer to a function modifying external state or interacting with external systems (such as modifying global variables or performing I/O operations) aside from returning a value.

1.1 Example of Pure Functions

def add(x, y): return x + yprint(add(2, 3)) # Output: 5

The add function is a pure function because it always produces the same output given the same input and does not modify any external state.

1.2 Example of Side Effects

global_var = 0def impure_add(x, y): global global_var global_var += x + y return global_varprint(impure_add(2, 3)) # Output: 5print(global_var) # Output: 5

The impure_add function is not a pure function because it modifies the external variable global_var.

Higher-order functions are functions that take other functions as parameters or return functions as… Read the full blog for free on Medium.

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Published via Towards AI