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Function Declaration

Functions in Soul are declared with the soul keyword: 
soul greet(name) {
    return "Hello, " + name + "!"
}

message = greet("Alice")  // "Hello, Alice!"

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Parameters and Arguments

Functions can accept multiple parameters: 
soul add(a, b) {
    return a + b
}

soul introduce(firstName, lastName, age) {
    return firstName + " " + lastName + " is " + age + " years old"
}

// Calling with arguments
sum = add(5, 3)
intro = introduce("John", "Doe", 30)
Soul doesn’t support default parameters or named arguments. All parameters must be provided when calling a function.

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Return Values

Use the return keyword to return a value: 
soul multiply(x, y) {
    return x * y
}

// Without explicit return, functions return null
soul printMessage(msg) {
    print(msg)
    // Implicitly returns null
}

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First-Class Functions

Functions are first-class values in Soul - they can be assigned to variables, passed as arguments, and returned from other functions:

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Assigning Functions to Variables

soul sayHello() {
    return "Hello!"
}

// Assign function to variable
myFunc = sayHello
result = myFunc()  // "Hello!"

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Functions as Arguments

soul applyOperation(x, y, operation) {
    return operation(x, y)
}

soul add(a, b) { return a + b }
soul multiply(a, b) { return a * b }

result1 = applyOperation(5, 3, add)      // 8
result2 = applyOperation(5, 3, multiply) // 15

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Returning Functions

soul createMultiplier(factor) {
    return soul(x) {
        return x * factor
    }
}

double = createMultiplier(2)
triple = createMultiplier(3)

print(double(5))   // 10
print(triple(5))   // 15

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Anonymous Functions

Create functions without names: 
// Anonymous function assigned to variable
square = soul(x) { return x * x }

// Anonymous function as argument
numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
squared = numbers.map(soul(n) { return n * n })
// Result: [1, 4, 9, 16, 25]

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Closures

Functions can capture variables from their enclosing scope: 
soul makeCounter() {
    count = 0
    
    return soul() {
        count = count + 1
        return count
    }
}

counter1 = makeCounter()
counter2 = makeCounter()

print(counter1())  // 1
print(counter1())  // 2
print(counter2())  // 1 (independent counter)

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Function Scope

Each function creates its own scope: 
globalVar = "global"

soul outerFunction() {
    outerVar = "outer"
    
    soul innerFunction() {
        innerVar = "inner"
        print(globalVar)  // ✓ Access global
        print(outerVar)   // ✓ Access outer scope
    }
    
    innerFunction()
    // print(innerVar)  // ✗ Error: not accessible
}

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Recursion

Functions can call themselves: 
soul factorial(n) {
    if (n <= 1) {
        return 1
    }
    return n * factorial(n - 1)
}

print(factorial(5))  // 120

// Fibonacci with recursion
soul fibonacci(n) {
    if (n <= 1) return n
    return fibonacci(n - 1) + fibonacci(n - 2)
}

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Higher-Order Functions

Soul supports functional programming patterns: 
// Filter function
soul filter(list, predicate) {
    result = []
    for (item in list) {
        if (predicate(item)) {
            result.push(item)
        }
    }
    return result
}

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
evens = filter(numbers, soul(n) { return n % 2 == 0 })
// Result: [2, 4, 6]

// Reduce function
soul reduce(list, fn, initial) {
    acc = initial
    for (item in list) {
        acc = fn(acc, item)
    }
    return acc
}

sum = reduce([1, 2, 3, 4], soul(a, b) { return a + b }, 0)
// Result: 10

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Best Practices