Functional design patterns are not the same as functional programming. While they can both be considered programming paradigms, functional programming can be defined as an approach to structuring computer programs that model computational functionality such as mathematical functions. The term functional design patterns refers to the use of functional programming to solve computational problems.
The following table provides an overview of how functional programming fits into the general programming approach landscape, especially when compared to object-oriented programming:
| Programming Approach | Description |
| Functional programming | Uses a style similar to mathematical functions. |
| Object oriented programming | Uses an object-centric approach. Objects contain attributes and behaviors. |
| Parallel-programming | Uses shared memory. Processes can... |
