The Place of Lisp in Teaching Functional Programming

Abstract

This article examines the main problems of teaching functional programming to students already familiar with the imperative paradigm. The learner model and the main problems that arise when teaching functional programming in this case (mutable variables, loops, sequential calculations) are described. A detailed example of the transition from an imperative to a functional paradigm is given. The return of a functional value is examined in detail using examples of numerical differentiation and interpolation. An implementation of lazy evaluation based on anonymous functions is discussed. It is shown that the multi-paradigm Lisp language is a convenient introduction to the functional paradigm.