Functional programming in C/C++?

Question

I have been reading this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_pointer and am sort of confused. Since C/C++ support function pointers, doesn't that mean they support functional programming in general? Note that I don't actually want to use C or C++ for functional programming, but I'm curious since I have never heard that C or C++ supports such a thing. (I know that compilers for many functional programming languages exist in C, but that is not what I really mean by "support").

Answer 1

Functional programming (please look it up if you're really interested) has little to do with functions pointers or lack of them.

C++ is a multi-paradigm language with a great deal of support for FP, especially the later versions. Many people working with WG21 like FP and push for support. In C++11 we even got lambda and in C++14 polymorphic lambdas debut. That covers many things. While functions stay second-class citizens lambda can take over fine.

Unfortunately tail-recursion handling is still not mandatory, but compilers actually handle it, and in the last decade even conveniently report "infinite recursion" when you just messed up the const overload. :)

You can go pretty far using FP style in C++, and learning it helps you make better code even when you chose other styles. I encourage everyone to study SICP.