Article

A framework for higher-order functions in C++

Author:

Konstantin LäuferAuthors Info & Claims

COOTS'95: Proceedings of the USENIX Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies on USENIX Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies (COOTS)

Page 8

Published: 26 June 1995 Publication History

Abstract

C and C++ allow passing functions as arguments to other functions in the form of function pointers. However, since function pointers can refer only to existing functions declared at global or file scope, these function arguments cannot capture local environments. This leads to the common misconception that C and C++ do not support function closures.

In fact, function closures can be modeled directly in C++ by enclosing a function inside an object such that the local environment is captured by data members of the object. This idiom is described in advanced C++ texts and is used, for example, to implement callbacks.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, we demonstrate how this idiom can be generalized to a type-safe framework of C++ class templates for higher-order functions that support composition and partial application. Second, we explore the expressiveness of the framework and compare it with that of existing functional programming languages.

We illustrate by means of various examples that object-oriented and functional idioms can coexist productively and can be used to enhance the functionality of common classes, for example, of nonlinear collections such as trees. A C++ implementation of the framework is available on request.

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Cited By

Lincke DSchupp SJansson PSchupp S(2009)The function concept in C++Proceedings of the 2009 ACM SIGPLAN workshop on Generic programming10.1145/1596614.1596619(25-36)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1596614.1596619
Setzer A(2002)Java as a functional programming languageProceedings of the 2002 international conference on Types for proofs and programs10.5555/1762639.1762655(279-298)Online publication date: 24-Apr-2002
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1762639.1762655
Ho WJézéquel JPennaneac'h FPlouzeau NOssher HKiczales G(2002)A toolkit for weaving aspect oriented UML designsProceedings of the 1st international conference on Aspect-oriented software development10.1145/508386.508398(99-105)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2002
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/508386.508398
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Index Terms

A framework for higher-order functions in C++
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. General programming languages
      1. Language features
        Frameworks
        Procedures, functions and subroutines
      2. Language types
2. Theory of computation
  1. Semantics and reasoning
    1. Program constructs
      1. Object oriented constructs

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cover image Guide Proceedings

COOTS'95: Proceedings of the USENIX Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies on USENIX Conference on Object-Oriented Technologies (COOTS)

June 1995

160 pages

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USENIX Association

United States

Publication History

Published: 26 June 1995

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Cited By

Lincke DSchupp SJansson PSchupp S(2009)The function concept in C++Proceedings of the 2009 ACM SIGPLAN workshop on Generic programming10.1145/1596614.1596619(25-36)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1596614.1596619
Setzer A(2002)Java as a functional programming languageProceedings of the 2002 international conference on Types for proofs and programs10.5555/1762639.1762655(279-298)Online publication date: 24-Apr-2002
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1762639.1762655
Ho WJézéquel JPennaneac'h FPlouzeau NOssher HKiczales G(2002)A toolkit for weaving aspect oriented UML designsProceedings of the 1st international conference on Aspect-oriented software development10.1145/508386.508398(99-105)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2002
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/508386.508398
Larsson J(2000)Calculating in an object-oriented iterator-view-generator frameworkAddendum to the 2000 proceedings of the conference on Object-oriented programming, systems, languages, and applications (Addendum)10.1145/367845.368054(147-148)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2000
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/367845.368054
McNamara BSmaragdakis Y(2000)Functional programming in C++ACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/357766.35125135:9(118-129)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2000
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/357766.351251
McNamara BSmaragdakis YOdersky MWadler P(2000)Functional programming in C++Proceedings of the fifth ACM SIGPLAN international conference on Functional programming10.1145/351240.351251(118-129)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2000
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/351240.351251
Odersky MWadler PLee PHenglein FJones N(1997)Pizza into JavaProceedings of the 24th ACM SIGPLAN-SIGACT symposium on Principles of programming languages10.1145/263699.263715(146-159)Online publication date: 1-Jan-1997
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/263699.263715
Papaspyrou N(1996)A framework for programming denotational semantics in C++ACM SIGPLAN Notices10.1145/242903.24291331:8(16-25)Online publication date: 1-Aug-1996
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/242903.242913

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