Higher-order functions

Documentation and user's manual

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OCaml programs

Higher-order functions

This is an approximate definition of the notion of a higher-order function: A higher-order function is a function whose argument is a function and/or whose result of application is a function. To get a correct definition, replace all occurrences of a function but the first one with a tuple at least one component of which is a function: A higher-order function is a function whose argument is a tuple at least one component of which is a function and/or whose result of application is a tuple at least one component of which is a function.

This is another correct definition: A higher-order function is a function whose type contains at last two arrows. For instance here are the types of functional values previously written: val unary_of_int_add : int -> (int -> int) val unary_of_real_mult : float -> (float -> float) val unary_of_string_concat : string -> (string -> string) Here are the types of the function  make  provided by the Objective Caml  String  module ( (String.make (n)) (c)  returns a fresh string of length  n , filled with the character  c ) and of the function  append  (catenates two lists and has the same meaning as the infix operator  @ ) provided by its  List  module: val make : int -> (char -> string) val append : 'a list -> ('a list -> 'a list)

Higher-order functions

Documentation and user's manual

Table of contents

OCaml programs