logo

Learning objective

List processing: Be familiar with representing a list as a concatenation of a head and a tail. Know that the head is an element of a list and the tail is a list. Know that a list can be empty. Describe and apply the following operations: • return head of list • return tail of list • test for empty list • return length of list • construct an empty list • prepend an item to a list • append an item to a list. Have experience writing programs for the list operations mentioned above in a functional programming language or in a language with support for the functional paradigm. For example, in Haskell the list [4, 3, 5] can be written in the form head:tail where head is the first item in the list and tail is the remainder of the list. In the example, we have 4:[3, 5]. We call 4 the head of the list and [3, 5] the tail. [] is the empty list. 94

Read the explanation, check the common trap, then practise with flashcards and questions.

At a glance

0

Flashcards

0

Questions

Topic

Lists in functional programming

Subtopic

List processing

Aqa A Level Computer ScienceFundamentals of functional programming

Study support

Understand this objective

Quick explanation

List processing: Be familiar with representing a list as a concatenation of a head and a tail. Know that the head is an element of a list and the tail is a list. Know that a list can be empty. Describe and apply the following operations: • return head of list • return tail of list • test for empty list • return length of list • construct an empty list • prepend an item to a list • append an item to a list. Have experience writing programs for the list operations mentioned above in a functional programming language or in a language with support for the functional paradigm. For example, in Haskell the list [4, 3, 5] can be written in the form head:tail where head is the first item in the list and tail is the remainder of the list. In the example, we have 4:[3, 5]. We call 4 the head of the list and [3, 5] the tail. [] is the empty list. 94

  • This point belongs to Lists in functional programming, especially List processing.
  • You need to be able to list processing: Be familiar with representing a list as a concatenation of a head and a tail. Know that the head is an element of a list and the tail is a list. Know that a list can be empty. Describe and apply the following operations: • return head of list • return tail of list • test for empty list • return length of list • construct an empty list • prepend an item to a list • append an item to a list. Have experience writing programs for the list operations mentioned above in a functional programming language or in a language with support for the functional paradigm. For example, in Haskell the list [4, 3, 5] can be written in the form head:tail where head is the first item in the list and tail is the remainder of the list. In the example, we have 4:[3, 5]. We call 4 the head of the list and [3, 5] the tail. [] is the empty list. 94.
  • Use the linked flashcards and practice questions to check recall, then practise applying the idea in an exam-style answer.

Why it matters

This objective helps connect List processing to exam-style questions, flashcards, and revision notes for Lists in functional programming.

Quick student answer

Given the list [4, 3, 5], which list is its tail?

Direct answer

[3, 5]

Key terms

  • Head: The first element of a list.
  • Tail: The list formed from all elements after the head; it may itself be empty.

Common trap

Confusing prepend and append: Prepend with [item] + xs. Append with xs + [item]. Check the position of the new item in the resulting list.

Related questions

Try this as a practice card

4 linked

Question 1 of 4

Choose an answer, get feedback, then move sideways through the set.

0 of 4 attempted

Flashcard prompts

Flip through the key recall cards

4 cards

Flashcard 1 of 4

Press Space to flip, arrows to move

Revision tools

Choose how to practise

Back to topic hub
Flashcards0 linked cards
No objective-specific flashcards are cached for this page. Use the topic hub to revise the surrounding flashcards without triggering a frozen-subject DB fallback.Open topic hub
Practice Questions0 linked questions
No objective-specific practice questions are cached for this page. Use the topic question bank to practise nearby curriculum questions without weakening the egress guard.Open topic questions

Related learning objectives

No linked resources are published for this section yet.