FP stands for "Functional Programming." It is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids changing state and mutable data. It focuses on the use of pure functions, which take input and produce output without any side effects. FP is based on lambda calculus, a branch of mathematical logic, and emphasizes on immutability, declarative programming, and higher-order functions.
In functional programming, functions are considered first-class citizens, meaning they can be assigned to variables, passed as arguments to other functions, and returned as values from other functions. This allows for function composition and the creation of higher-order functions that manipulate and combine other functions to solve complex problems. FP also promotes the use of recursion instead of iteration, as it avoids mutable state.
One of the main benefits of FP is that it leads to more concise and modular code, making it easier to reason about and test. It also encourages code reuse and parallel execution, as pure functions are inherently thread-safe and can be executed independently. FP languages, such as Haskell, Lisp, and Erlang, provide built-in support for functional programming techniques.
Overall, FP is a programming paradigm that emphasizes the use of pure functions, immutability, declarative programming, and higher-order functions to create concise, modular, and side-effect-free code. It offers a different approach to solving problems compared to imperative or object-oriented programming paradigms.
