F

First-class function – If a language supports first-class functions, this means that functions can be passed as arguments to other functions or returned as a result from a function.

FIXME – A tag that is used in comments to indicate that a particular section of code needs to be rewritten or updated.

Floating-point types – A data type that can represent real numbers.

FLOW-MATIC – A programming language designed by Grace Hopper in 1955. It was the first English-like data processing language.

Fortran – A programming language invented in 1954 at IBM by John Backus.

Function – A sequence of program instructions that are packaged as one unit and (usually) given a name.

Function call – A call to a function will pass control to that function. Once the function has executed, control is given back.

Functional programming – A paradigm where programs are constructed by composing and applying functions.