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Y combinator: Difference between revisions
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In strict [[wp:Functional programming|functional programming]] and the [[wp:lambda calculus|lambda calculus]], functions (lambda expressions) don't have state and are only allowed to refer to arguments of enclosing functions.
This rules out the usual definition of a recursive function wherein a function is associated with the state of a variable and this variable's state is used in the body of the function.
The [http://mvanier.livejournal.com/2897.html Y combinator] is itself a stateless function that, when applied to another stateless function, returns a recursive version of the function.
The Y combinator is the simplest of the class of such functions, called [[wp:Fixed-point combinator|fixed-point combinators]].
;Task:
Define the stateless ''Y combinator'' and use it to compute [[wp:Factorial|factorials]] and [[wp:Fibonacci number|Fibonacci numbers]] from other stateless functions or lambda expressions.
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