A programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions, avoiding changing state and mutable data. Programs are built by composing pure functions that always return the same output for the same input.
From Latin 'functio' meaning performance or execution, combined with 'programming.' The paradigm emerged from lambda calculus developed by Alonzo Church in the 1930s, gaining prominence in computing through languages like LISP in the 1950s.
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