As for that `ifThenElse` example, there's nothing "meta" going on at all and there's no fancy control flow: it's just a (very simple) function. Consider a function like:
renderPage User page register = page
renderPage Guest page register = register
This is what I meant by writing "more meaningful, domain-specific alternatives". Not to "re-invent control flow", but to avoid talking about control flow, and just use functions.
Note that we can do pretty much the same in any language, e.g. Python:
def ifThenElse(c, x, y):
return {True: x, False: y}[c]
def renderPage(session, page, register):
return {User: page, Guest: register}[session]
Note that such "meta" "reinvented control structures" appear all over the place in OOP, due to dynamic dispatch, e.g.
class User:
def renderPage(page, register):
return page
class Guest:
def renderPage(page, register):
return register
- FP restricts the allowed values but allows new functions to use them. For example, adding an Admin session would be hard (need to rewrite renderPage), but adding a renderAvatar function is easy.
- OOP restricts the allowed functions (methods), but allows them to use new values. For example, adding an Admin class would be easy, but adding a renderAvatar method would be hard (need to rewrite User and Guest).
Scheme isn't, lambda is. That paper is about how lexical closures alone are enough to simulate a lot of imperative concepts like assignment, loops, and gotos (they do cheat and use set! in a couple places, but the point of the paper is how much lambda application can do all on its own). Your broader point about Lisps not being particularly functionally oriented is correct, though; they're some of the most unopinionated languages you could imagine.