AQA 7517 4.12.1.2: First-class object
The free BugBot lessons that teach this point, a robot to try it on, and the past-paper questions that test it.
What it covers
A number can be stored in a variable, put in a list, passed to a function and returned from one. So far you have treated functions as something different: code you call. In a functional language, a function is a value like any other. This one idea is what makes the rest of the paradigm work.
- First-class objects
- Functions as arguments
- Functions as results
- Higher-order functions
- A command table
Or do it in the simulator, with tasks that mark themselves
Lessons that teach it
- A13.3 First-class objects and higher-order functions Functional programming
Functions as values in variables, lists and dictionaries, passed as arguments and returned as results, lambdas, closures and a robot… - A13.8 Project: the way out Functional programming
Sweep the bay, decide with a pipeline of pure functions built by composition, map, filter and fold, then drive out.
Try it on a robot
The task from A13.3 First-class objects and higher-order functions, running here. Change the program and press Run.
The specification is AQA's own document; this page says which of our lessons teach point 4.12.1.2 and is not endorsed by the board.