Take a look at the following definition of sum-doubles, which takes two numbers a and b, and returns the sum of all numbers between a and b doubled.
(define (sum-doubles a b)
(define (double x) (* 2 x))
(if (> a b)
0
(+ (double a) (sum-doubles (+ a 1) b))))
Since the double function was not already defined for us, we had to define it ourselves inside of our sum-doubles definition.
But doing that is such a waste! Outside of our sum-doubles definition, we won't ever be able use that double function. Isn't there a quick, easy way to make a user-defined function without first defining, then applying the named function?
Actually, yes. Let's introduce the lambda function, otherwise known as an anonymous function. These mysterious functions will be major players in the concepts we will discuss in future lessons.
The general form for a lambda is as follows:
(lambda (<param1> <param2> ... <paramn>) <body>)
Let's dissect this. Within the parentheses, we have three major parts:
lambda, which tells Racket that this is a lambda function,The procedure double, for example, can be defined as the following lambda function:
(lambda (x) (* 2 x))
In other words,
(define double (lambda (x) (* 2 x)))
would be equivalent to:
(define (double x) (* 2 x))
When describing lambdas, you would call it "the function of [params] that returns [body]." For example, "double is the function of x that returns (* 2 x)."
Just as we can call procedures created using define, we can also call lambda functions. The general form of a call to a lambda is as follows:
((lambda (<param1> <param2> ... <paramn>) <body>) <arg1> <arg2> ... <argn>)
So if we want to call (double 5) as an anonymous function, the substitution model would give us this:
-> ((lambda (x) (* 2 x)) 5)
-> ((lambda (x) (* 2 5)) 5)
-> (* 2 5)
10
What happens here? When we call a lambda function, the first argument corresponds to the first parameter, the second argument to the second parameter, ..., and the nth argument to the nth parameter. Then, in the body, every occurence of each parameter is replaced with the corresponding argument.
Let's illustrate this with an example expression:
-> ((lambda (x y z) (+ x y x z)) 1 2 3)
In the body of the lambda, we replace every occurence of x with 1. We replace every y we see with 2. And every time we see a z, we replace it with 3.
-> ((lambda (x y z) (+ x y x z)) 1 2 3)
-> ((lambda (x y z) (+ 1 2 1 3)) 1 2 3)
-> (+ 1 2 1 3)
7
Now, we can rewrite sum-doubles as:
(define (sum-doubles a b)
(if (> a b)
0
(+ ((lambda (x) (* 2 x)) a) (sum-doubles (+ a 1) b))))
Note: The value returned by creating a lambda is a procedure, just as much as one made with a call to define.
Try these expressions out in the Racket interpreter:
(lambda (x) (+ x 3))
((lambda (x) (+ x 3)) 7)
(define add3 (lambda (x) (+ x 3)))
(add3 7)
(define (square x) (* x x))
(square 5)
(define sq (lambda (x) (* x x)))
(sq 5)
((lambda (x y) (+ (* 2 x) (* 5 y))) (* 100 100) (* 5 2))