Is Python a functional programming language?

[Aahz]

In article <7xvdavd4bq.fsf at ruckus.brouhaha.com>,
Paul Rubin  <no.email at nospam.invalid> wrote:
>
>If your goal is to engage in functional programming, you're better off
>using a language designed for that purpose.  Python is a pragmatic
>language from an imperative tradition, that has some functional features
>tacked on.  

While your first sentence is spot-on, saying that functional features
are "tacked on" understates the case.  Consider how frequently people
reach for list comps and gen exps.  Function dispatch through dicts is
the standard replacement for a switch statement.  Lambda callbacks are
common.  Etc, etc, etc
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

f u cn rd ths, u cn gt a gd jb n nx prgrmmng.