Python is not functional, but it provides many features found typically in a functional programming language. Vectorized operations, which apply a computation to an entire list using only a single line of code, are one such feature that I enjoy using in Python. Vectorization makes for concise syntax and allows you to apply powerful computations to data in a simple and quick way. Here I’ll summarize three functions and features, map(), reduce() and list comprehensions, that provide programmers with the ability to create a compact representation for repetitive computations over data structures.

I can stare at this picture a good long time. There’s so much awesomeness captured in these pixels! When the Amiga was launched by Commodore in 1986, the actual launch event took place in New York, where Commodore had arranged for Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry of Blondie fame to demonstrate the powerful new computer. Warhol created a pop art image of Harry and showcased the Amiga’s graphical powers. Popular as Warhol was, he was obviously awkward with the computer and perhaps not best suited to run the audience through a launch demo.

The “No-Code” movement is gaining steam. The idea is not a new one, and in many senses, the entire story of personal computing has been about better ways to automatically generate programs. Let me explain. The first personal computer killer app was a program called VisiCalc. Written by Dan Bricklin, VisiCalc was the industry’s first spreadsheet software. Before it came about, financial analysis on computers was quite an involved task. The spreadsheet changed all this by offering a simple way to write very specialized accounting and forecasting programs in easily understood arithmetic syntax.

Born in 1890 in Belmont, Massachusetts, Dr. Vannevar Bush was an American scientist, the Vice President of MIT, principal science advisor to the President during the second world war and a towering figure in early computing. While his work was wide ranging and spanned many areas of investigation, his most intriguing idea was perhaps the “Memex”, described in “As we may think”, an article he wrote for The Atlantic in 1945.