function object (functor) (1)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_object

 

In <<Essential c++>>, it said 

A function object is a class that provides an overloaded instance of the function call operator.

It's right but really not in essential

 

Mathematics

 

In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a functor is a special type of mapping between categories. Functors can be thought of as homomorphisms between categories, or morphisms in the category of small categories. 

 

In mathematics, a morphism is an abstraction derived from structure-preserving mappings between two mathematical structures.

 

computer programming

 

A function object, also called a functor, functional, or functionoid,^[1] is a computer programming construct allowing an object to be invoked or called like it was an ordinary function, usually with the same syntax.

 

A typical use of a function object is in writing callback functions. A callback in procedural languages, such as C, may be accomplished by using function pointers. However it can be difficult or awkward to pass a state into or out of the callback function. This restriction also inhibits more dynamic behavior of the function. A function object solves those problems since the function is really a façade for a full object, thus it carries its own state.

 

/* Callback function */ int compare_function(int A, int B) { return A < B; } ... /* Declaration of C sorting function */ void sort_ints(int* begin_items, int num_items, int (*cmpfunc)(int, int) ); ... int main(void) { int items[] = {4, 3, 1, 2}; sort_ints(items, sizeof(items)/sizeof(int), compare_function); return 0; } 

 

C++

In C++ a function object may be used instead of an ordinary function by defining a class which overloads the function call operator by defining an operator() member function. In C++ this is called a class type functor

class compare_class { public: bool operator()(int A, int B) { return A < B; } }; ... // Declaration of C++ sorting function. template <class ComparisonFunctor> void sort_ints(int* begin_items, int num_items, ComparisonFunctor c); ... int main() { int items[] = {4, 3, 1, 2}; compare_class functor; sort_ints(items, sizeof(items)/sizeof(int), functor); } 

 

Java

Since Java does not have first-class functions, function objects are usually expressed by an interface with a single method (most commonly the Callable interface), typically with the implementation being an anonymous inner class.

List<String> list = Arrays.asList("10", "1", "20", "11", "21", "12"); Comparator<String> numStringComparator = new Comparator<String>() { public int compare(String o1, String o2) { return Integer.valueOf(o1).compareTo(Integer.valueOf(o2)); } }; Collections.sort(list, numStringComparator); 

 

Python

In Python, functions are first-class objects, just like strings, numbers, lists etc. This feature eliminates the need to write a function object in many cases. Any object with a __call__()method can be called using function-call syntax

class Accumulator(object): def __init__(self, n): self.n = n def __call__(self, x): self.n += x return self.n >>> a = Accumulator(4) >>> a(5) 9 >>> a(2) 11 >>> b = Accumulator(42) >>> b(7) 49