Functional programming Questions

 Q. Answer the following Questions

1. What is functional programming?

   - Answer: Functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids changing-state and mutable data.

2. Differentiate between functional programming and imperative programming.

   - Answer: In functional programming, computation is treated as the evaluation of mathematical functions, whereas in imperative programming, computation is performed by changing program state with statements.

3. Define a pure function in the context of functional programming.

   - Answer: A pure function is a function that, given the same input, will always return the same output and produces no side effects.

4. What is an impure function?

   - Answer: An impure function is a function that produces side effects or relies on external state, making its output unpredictable for the same input.

5. Explain recursion in functional programming.

   - Answer: Recursion is a technique where a function calls itself in order to solve a problem. It's a fundamental concept in functional programming for iteration.

6.What is a higher-order function?

   - Answer: A higher-order function is a function that takes other functions as arguments or returns a function as its result.

7. Define script in functional programming.

   - Answer: A script in functional programming is a sequence of expressions or statements that are executed in order to perform a specific task or computation.

8. Explain currying in functional programming.

   Answer: Currying is the process of transforming a function that takes multiple arguments into a sequence of functions, each taking a single argument.

9.What is functional composition?

   - Answer: Functional composition is the process of combining two or more functions to produce a new function. The output of one function becomes the input of another.

10. Differentiate between functional application and functional composition.

   Answer: Functional application involves applying a function to its arguments to produce a result. Functional composition involves combining two or more functions to create a new function by chaining their outputs and inputs.

11. Explain the concept of functional programming and how it differs from imperative programming languages.

   Answer: Functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids changing state and mutable data. It emphasizes the use of immutable data and functions without side effects. In contrast, imperative programming languages focus on describing a sequence of steps to be executed, often involving mutable state and side effects.

12. Define what a pure function is and provide an example. Explain why pure functions are beneficial in functional programming. 

 Answer: A pure function is a function that always produces the same output for a given input and has no side effects. It does not rely on or modify external state. For example, a pure function to calculate the square of a number:

 def square(x):

       return x * x

   Pure functions are beneficial because they are predictable, easier to reason about, test, and debug. They facilitate parallel and concurrent programming and enable optimizations like memoization.

13. Differentiate between pure functions and impure functions. Provide an example of each.

 Answer: Pure functions always produce the same output for a given input and have no side effects. An example:

   

 def add(a, b):

       return a + b

   Impure functions, on the other hand, may produce different outputs for the same input and/or have side effects. An example:

   

  def print_and_add(a, b):

       print("Adding:", a, "and", b)

       return a + b

   In the above example, the function has a side effect of printing to the console.

14. Explain the concept of recursion in functional programming, providing an example of a recursive function. 

  Answer: Recursion in functional programming involves defining a function in terms of itself. It's a technique where a function calls itself to solve smaller instances of the same problem. An example of a recursive function to calculate the factorial of a number:

   

def factorial(n):

       if n == 0:

           return 1

       else:

           return n * factorial(n - 1)

   

15. Define what a higher-order function is and provide an example. Explain why higher-order functions are important in functional programming. 

   Answer: A higher-order function is a function that takes one or more functions as arguments or returns a function as its result. An example of a higher-order function:

def apply_twice(func, x):

       return func(func(x))

  

   Higher-order functions are important in functional programming because they enable abstraction, modularity, and code reuse. They allow for the composition of functions, making it easier to express complex transformations concisely.

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