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POIs there a name for partial function application with a fixed argument list?
 

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  1. POIs there a name for partial function application with a fixed argument list?
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    <p>I'm trying to find out if there's a concept or an existing formal name for this use of partial function application/binding.</p> <p>I've seen it in multiple places/libraries in different names but here's more or less the concepts I'm talking about vs. the normal curry/bind/partial function application:</p> <pre><code>//Typical usage of bind/curry: fn = bind(function(){console.log(this, arguments)}, context, 'arg 1', 'arg 2'); fn('arg 3'); //logs out arg 1, arg 2, and arg 3 //What I'm looking for: fn = makeFn(function(){console.log(this, arguments)}, context, 'arg 1', 'arg 2'); fn('arg 3'); //logs out arg 1, arg 2 // (Notice that arg 3 is ignored because it's not in the defined list of arguments). </code></pre> <p>An example use case for something like this:</p> <pre><code>obj = { toggle: function(force, config){ node[force || this.hidden ? 'show' : 'hide'](config &amp;&amp; config.someSetting); this.hidden = !this.hidden; }, hidden: false } node.on('click', makeFn(obj.toggle, obj, true)); </code></pre> <p>(using bind/curry pass along an event object or whatever other arguments are sent in, but the function we're defining would be trying to optionally use that as a completely different type of argument).</p> <p>I've seen this pattern called multiple things in different libraries with some slightly different syntaxes/abilities.</p> <p>Facebook's js uses Function.prototype.shield(context, [args...]), Mootools uses Function.prototype.pass(args, [context]), Sencha (née ExtJS) has Function.prototype.createDelegate(fn, args, [appendArgs = false]) and I've even seen some called partial(fn, context, args) (however partial usually has the added ability to pass around a placeholder to allow the passing of different default arguments; I'm avoiding this due to the performance overhead of looping over the argument list on every function call).</p> <p>Is this a formal concept, or is it only an implied one that requires some new name?</p> <p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
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    1. USNate Cavanaugh
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      1. VTUpMod
    1. COImo it is still a partial function application. But instead of fixing *some* arguments, you fix *all*, resulting in a function which does not accept any further arguments. From Wikipedia: *"(...)partial function application refers to the process of fixing a number of arguments to a function, producing another function of smaller arity. "*. In your example, your function basically accepts an arbitrary number of arguments, but if you have a "properly" defined function `function(a, b)` which only operates on the first two arguments, then the third argument is ignored.
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      1. POIs there a name for partial function application with a fixed argument list?
      1. USFelix Kling
    2. COThanks Felix, but the part where I'm not sure if it fits is that in the method I described, the function arity could actually be larger. For instance, if there are only 2 defined arguments, but the function still accesses an optional third via `arguments[2]`. Since it's saying that the produced function has a smaller arity, how would you say it applies in cases like this?
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      1. POIs there a name for partial function application with a fixed argument list?
      1. USNate Cavanaugh
 

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