Editing Higher-order function (section)

====Objects====
In [[object-oriented programming]] languages that do not support higher-order functions, [[object (computer science)|objects]] can be an effective substitute. An object's [[method (computer science)|methods]] act in essence like functions, and a method may accept objects as parameters and produce objects as return values. Objects often carry added run-time overhead compared to pure functions, however, and added [[boilerplate code]] for defining and instantiating an object and its method(s). Languages that permit [[stack-based memory allocation|stack]]-based (versus [[dynamic memory allocation|heap]]-based) objects or [[Record (computer science)|structs]] can provide more flexibility with this method.

An example of using a simple stack based record in [[Free Pascal]] with a function that returns a function:

<syntaxhighlight lang="pascal">
program example;

type 
  int = integer;
  Txy = record x, y: int; end;
  Tf = function (xy: Txy): int;
     
function f(xy: Txy): int; 
begin 
  Result := xy.y + xy.x; 
end;

function g(func: Tf): Tf; 
begin 
  result := func; 
end;

var 
  a: Tf;
  xy: Txy = (x: 3; y: 7);

begin  
  a := g(@f);     // return a function to "a"
  writeln(a(xy)); // prints 10
end.
</syntaxhighlight>

The function <code>a()</code> takes a <code>Txy</code> record as input and returns the integer value of the sum of the record's <code>x</code> and <code>y</code> fields (3 + 7).