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Software Engineering vocabulary · Programming Concepts

Pure function

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCommon term

In software engineering, pure function means: A function that returns the same result for the same inputs and has no observable effects outside its calculation.

In Turkish: saf işlev

How it is used

Used in functional programming and test design. Reading changing external state can prevent a function from being pure.

Example sentences

  1. The tax formatter is a pure function because its output depends only on its arguments.

    The example assumes formatting changes no external state and reads no changing settings.

  2. We moved file writing outside the pure function that calculates the report totals.

    Separating the write keeps the calculation independent of an observable storage effect.

Common collocations

  • write a pure function
  • pure function composition
  • functionA named block of code that does one job. It can take input values, and it often returns a result to the code that called it.
  • immutableDescribing a value or object whose state cannot be changed after it has been created.

More terms: Programming Concepts

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