On 9/4/2011 7:41 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
William Gill wrote:
The source of my error is "Functional Programming HOWTO
(/python-3.1.3-docs-html/howto/functional.html)"
For those who don't have access to William's local file system, I expect
he's looking at this:
http://docs.python.org/release/3.1.3/howto/functional.html
or the most recent version:
http://docs.python.org/dev/howto/functional.html
I didn't expect anyone to access my file system so I trimmed the path,
but left enough for an industrious soul like yourself to figure it out.
You did, so it seems I was correct, or do you think "functional.html"
would have been sufficient? ;-)
[...]
If you read the material with even a nominal understanding of the
functional paradigm (functional relationships in a mathematical sense,
not functions in the procedural sense), it is clear. If you read it
without consciously recognizing this difference, the material does
nothing to alert you to the initial error.
What about the entire "Introduction" section, which starts with this
statement?
"This section explains the basic concept of functional programming"
Which clears up the misunderstanding, how? Unless the target audience
is people who already understands "the basic concept of functional
programming." That seems like a circular reference.
The article is introducing a concept. To assume any familiarity with
that concept as a basis, is not an introduction.
As previously stated; I was already familiar with the concepts of
procedural, declarative, and object-oriented programming, but not
functional programming. Nothing I read (I'll be honest; scanned) did
anything to contradict my incorrect point of reference.
If you would like to suggest improvements, please do so.
How about a caveat stating something like "NOTE: functional as in
mathematical functions, not to be confused with functions/procedures."
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