Mathematica Functional Programming: A Tutorial for Procedural Programmers

As a programmer familiar with procedural languages, you may be surprised to find that Mathematica supports many of the features you're accustomed to, and then some. With some simple tricks, you can even program functionally in this language. In this tutorial, we'll explore how to make the most of Mathematica's functional programming capabilities while emphasizing good programming practices.

In my experience, I found that Mathematica lacked some key features I had grown used to in procedural languages when I first started programming in it. However, with correct programming practices, you can not only debug and maintain your code more efficiently but also reuse code and save time. Mathematica's functional programming is a deeply integrated core feature of the Wolfram Language, made even richer and more convenient by its dramatic development.

This tutorial is intended for users who are familiar with procedural programming and interested in learning Mathematica and functional programming. It assumes some prior knowledge of programming concepts, but you don't need to be an expert in either procedural or functional programming to follow along.

To get started with Mathematica's functional programming capabilities, I recommend checking out the Wolfram Repositories and Archives for Finance, Statistics & Business Analysis, as well as visiting the Wolfram Knowledgebase. The Wolfram Universal Deployment System also provides instant deployment across cloud, desktop, mobile, and more platforms.

For those who want to delve deeper into the theoretical aspects of functional programming, I suggest using Scheme, Haskell, or ML as your vehicle for learning. However, Mathematica is designed with a focus on getting things done quickly and efficiently, so you can use its language features to implement CPS (continuation-passing style) programming, memorization, and more.

One of the most exciting aspects of Mathematica is that it supports multiple programming paradigms, including procedural, functional, and even object-oriented programming. The Wolfram Data Framework provides a semantic framework for working with real-world data, making it easy to integrate your code into larger projects.

In this tutorial, we'll explore the ins and outs of Mathematica's functional programming capabilities, from simple list manipulations to more complex computations. With its rich set of built-in functions and powerful language features, Mathematica is an ideal platform for learning and applying functional programming principles. So let's get started!

Mathematica functional programming