On Oct 14, 7:54 am, Jon Harrop <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Just debating somewhere else whether or not Python might be considered a > functional programming language. Lua, Ruby and Perl all seem to provide > first class lexical closures. > > What is the current state of affairs in Python? Last time I looked they were > just removing (?!) closures... > > -- > Dr Jon D Harrop, Flying Frog > Consultancyhttp://www.ffconsultancy.com/products/?u
Python has ( ever had ) first class functions. They can be defined everywhere within each statement and therefore within other function definitions. They are lexical closures. Pythons support for *anonymous* closures is somewhat weak. They are not on equal footing with named functions and they don't play a generative role in the language ( there is no single piece of language semantics described by lambda expressions ). There was some willing to remove them in Python 3.0 alltogether. This decision was withdrawn but their power wasn't extended either. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
