Name this python/ruby language construct (using array values to satisfy function parameters)

Question

What is this language construct called?

In Python I can say:

def a(b,c): return b+c
a(*[4,5])

and get 9. Likewise in Ruby:

Answer 1

The typical terminology for this is called "applying a function to a list", or "apply" for short.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apply

It has been in LISP since pretty much its inception back in 1960 odd. Glad python rediscovered it :-}

Apply is typically on a list or a representation of a list such as an array. However, one can apply functions to arguments that come from other palces, such as structs. Our PARLANSE language has fixed types (int, float, string, ...) and structures. Oddly enough, a function argument list looks a lot like a structure definintion, and in PARLANSE, it is a structure definition, and you can "apply" a PARLANSE function to a compatible structure. You can "make" structure instances, too, thus:

 (define S
    (structure [t integer]
               [f float]
               [b (array boolean 1 3)]
    )structure
 )define s

  (= A (array boolean 1 3 ~f ~F ~f))

  (= s (make S -3 19.2 (make (array boolean 1 3) ~f ~t ~f))


  (define foo (function string S) ...)

  (foo +17 3e-2 A) ; standard function call

  (foo s) ; here's the "apply"

PARLANSE looks like lisp but isn't.