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Glite Dictionary
🔗 A mapping function 🔤 A linking word
functor

functor

1 9.9
A rule that turns objects or functions in one system into objects in another
  • noun
  • /ˈfʌŋktər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : functor
  • Many programming languages implement functors to facilitate operations on data structures, enhancing code modularity.

Examples

  • The functor... ...is in the two categories.

    A Beautiful Mind (2001)

  • Projecting a verb onto a collection of nouns is not all that difficult, even if it does mean proliferating "functor" interfaces.

    Blog text (19)

  • In mathematics, a functor transforms one category into another while preserving the structure between them.

  • In programming, a functor is an object that can be treated as a function, allowing for functional programming techniques.

Surface Forms

functor singular
functors plural

Etymology

Functor comes from function plus the agent ending -or, so it originally meant 'one that does a function'. In math and programming, a functor is a thing that 'does' a mapping or applies a function to objects, which is why the name fits.