Higher-order functions

Higher-order functions
You are encouraged to solve this task according to the task description, using any language you may know.

Pass a function as an argument to another function.

C

Standard: ANSI C

Compiler: GCC version 3.4.2 (mingw-special)

Simple example, the pointer to the function to be passed as an argument is the only involved pointer.

Definition of a function whose only parameter is a pointer to a function with no parameters and no return value:

 void myFuncSimple( void (*funcParameter)(void) )
 {
     /* ... */
    
     (*funcParameter)();  /* Call the passed function. */
     funcParameter();     /* Same as above with slight different syntax. */
 
     /* ... */
 }

Note that you can't call the passed function by " *funcParameter() ", since that would mean "call funcParameter and than apply the * operator on the returned value".

Call:

 void funcToBePassed(void);
 
 /* ... */
 
 myFuncSimple(&funcToBePassed);

Complex example.

Definition of a function whose return value is a pointer to int and whose only parameter is a pointer to a function, whose (in turn) return value is a pointer to double and whose only parameter is a pointer to long.

 int* myFuncComplex( double* (*funcParameter)(long* parameter) )
 {
      long* inLong;
      double* outDouble;
 
      /* ... */
 
      outDouble = (*funcParameter)(inLong);  /* Call the passed function and store returned pointer. */
      outDouble = funcParameter(inLong);     /* Same as above with slight different syntax. */
 
      /* ... */
 }

Call:

 double* funcToBePassed(long* parameter);
 
 /* ... */
 
 int* outInt;  
 
 outInt = myFuncComplex(&funcToBePassed);

Finally, declaration of a pointer variable of the proper type to hold such a function as myFunc:

 int* (*funcPointer)( double* (*funcParameter)(long* parameter) );
 
 /* ... */
 
 funcPointer = myFuncComplex;

Of course, in a real project you shouldn't write such a convoluted code, but use some typedef instead, in order to break complexity into steps.

C++

Standard: ANSI C++

Compiler: GCC version 3.4.2 (mingw-special)

Same as C.

Perl

Interpreter: Perl

Passing a pointer to a function

my $retval = first('data', \&second);

sub first ($ $){
  my $val = shift;
  my $func = shift;
  return $func->($val);
}

sub second ($){
  return(reverse(shift));
}

Passing a string to be used as a function

my $retval = first('data', 'second');

sub first ($ $){
  my $val = shift;
  my $func = shift;
  return &{$func}($val);
}

sub second ($){
  return(reverse(shift));
}

PHP

In this simple example, an array of two values is passed and the statistical average is computed.

 function average($arry) {
     $tmp = ($arry[0] + $arry[1]) / 2;
     return $tmp;
 }

To call it:

 $array1 = ( 5, 15 );
 echo "The average is ".average($arrayl)."\n"; 

Python

Interpreter: Python 2.5

 def first(function):
     return function()
 
 def second():
     return "second"
 
 result = first(second)