Lisp-likeness

[Roel Schroeven]

Thomas A. Russ wrote:
> Fernando  <frr at easyjob.net> writes:
> 
> 
>>On 15 Mar 2005 00:43:49 -0800, "Kay Schluehr" <kay.schluehr at gmx.net>
>>wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Maybe You can answer my question what this simple LISP function does ?
>>>
>>>(defun addn (n)
>>>	  #'(lambda (x)
>>>	      (+ x n)))
>>
>>The same as 
>>def addn(n):
>>	def fn(x):
>>		return n + x
>>	return fn
> 
> 
> Is this really equivalent?

AFAIK, yes. I admit that I know almost nothing about Lisp though. And
I'm not a Python guru either.

> What happens if you call addn more than once with different
> parameters.  Will you get different functions that you can
> use simultaneously?

Yes. Using the addn function defined above, you can do for example:

 >>> add4 = addn(4)
 >>> add10 = addn(10)
 >>> add4(5)
 9
 >>> add10(7)
 17
 >>> add4(add10(28))
 42

And so on. At least, I think that's what you mean.

-- 
If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood
on the shoulders of giants.  -- Isaac Newton

Roel Schroeven