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elisp: Function Type

 
 2.3.13 Function Type
 --------------------
 
 Lisp functions are executable code, just like functions in other
 programming languages.  In Lisp, unlike most languages, functions are
 also Lisp objects.  A non-compiled function in Lisp is a lambda
 expression: that is, a list whose first element is the symbol ‘lambda’
 (Lambda Expressions).
 
    In most programming languages, it is impossible to have a function
 without a name.  In Lisp, a function has no intrinsic name.  A lambda
 expression can be called as a function even though it has no name; to
 emphasize this, we also call it an “anonymous function” (Anonymous
 Functions).  A named function in Lisp is just a symbol with a valid
 function in its function cell (Defining Functions).
 
    Most of the time, functions are called when their names are written
 in Lisp expressions in Lisp programs.  However, you can construct or
 obtain a function object at run time and then call it with the primitive
 functions ‘funcall’ and ‘apply’.  Calling Functions.
 

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