Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!unmvax!uokmax!d.cs.okstate.edu!norman From: norman@d.cs.okstate.edu (Norman Graham) Newsgroups: comp.lang.functional Subject: Re: Extensional functions in SML? Message-ID: <1990Sep22.064603.9573@d.cs.okstate.edu> Date: 22 Sep 90 06:46:03 GMT References: Organization: Oklahoma State University Lines: 20 From article , by stabl@unipas.fmi.uni-passau.de (Robert Stabl): > But, I wanted to show that (higher-order) functional programming can be used > to define databases, not implementing them by arrays, lists, or any other > standard method. Right. You're example showed an important technique with which all functional programmers should be familiar: A functional (higher-order function) can be used to create a new function that is better defined than the original function. This is the same technique that denotational semanticists use to describe stores and environments. Yours, Norm -- Norman Graham {cbosgd,rutgers}!okstate!norman The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the state of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, OSU's Department of Computer Science, or of the writer himself.