The OP is complaining about lambda functions in Python.

As to any complaint, lambdas exist in python (that is, are made accessible to the programmer) for the exact reason python also has a for loop in addition to a while loop -- because they make things easier and more maintainable.

  def myApplyAdd(func, x):
    return lambda y: func(x+y)

  applyAddInst = myApplyAdd(lambda z: z*2, 20)
  applyAddInst(3) #output 26

  def myApplyAdd(func, x):
    def innerAdd (y):
      return func(x + y)
    return innerAdd

  def mulByTwo(x):
    return x*2

  applyAddInstance = myApplyAdd(mulByTwo, 20)
  applyAddInst(3) #output 26

  lambda i: i**2

  result = [ i**2 for i in range(3, 30) ]

If a function is "assigned to a variable" then it's no longer a lambda, because it's bound to an identifier. But I suppose the lines are a tad blurred.

  x = lambda x: x+x #a lambda, but has a named pointer
  x = 5

  def x(y):
    return y+y
  
  x = 5 #the "named" function above is now without a pointer

  //lambda expression
  var x = function (){};

  //named function
  function x() {}

  //named lambda expression
  var x = function x() {};

  //self-executing lambda (returns 5)
  (function (x) {return x;}(5));

  (lambda x: x)(5)

  my_module = (function (self) {
    "use strict"
    self = self || {};

    //private
    //pretty much inaccessible to the outside scope
    var privateVar = 5;
    //lambda expression again
    var privateFunc = function () {};

    //public
    self.publicVar = 5;
    self.publicFunc = function () {};
    self.getPrivateVar = function () {
      return privateVar;
    };

    return self;
  }(my_module));

  my_module.publicVar = 8;
  my_module.publicFunc();
  my_module.getPrivateVar();

  func1(function () {
    func2(function () {
      func3(function () {
        func4(function () {
      })
    })
  })

Faced with squeezing an explanation into a limited post or recommending one of the best books on computer science (written by teachers with many years experience in teaching these self-same principles), should I not recommend the book that will allow the poster to expand his/her horizons?

The poster was sufficiently motivated to ask the question. I was willing to post what I believed at the time to be the best answer to the question. If the poster's desire to know is sufficient, then he/she will take the time to explore the suggestion. If not, then things will stay as they are. In either case, my only interaction is my choice to share a suggestion or remain silent.

However, I'm about halfway through the chapter on "Higher order procedures" in the book you linked to, and have skimmed the rest of that chapter. And I've yet to find a valid pro for anonymous methods. Nothing I've found so far as to the benefit of using anonymous functions.

It does however, continuously reiterate the benefit of being able to pass "procedures as arguments" and to be able to return them from normal functions. So far, that's been the only "pro" and it's one that's solved by function pointers or having functions as objects, and not by anonymous methods. I'm still open for convincing, genuinely.

Here's another jewel from that chapter: "The resulting procedure is just as much a procedure as one that is created using define. The only difference is that it has not been associated with any name in the environment."

On a side note, your initial post was a tad condescending. The other post at least gave me the relevant chapter, instead of saying "here, read this for yourself". The least you could have done was give me a few short points why you think anonymous methods are superior in some way. Perhaps pointing me to a large blob of text was your way of deferring your own justifications for their use by not having to explain it to me (and as a consequence, yourself)?

SICP's point with higher-order functions is that code is data and that functions are no different than numbers or lists or whatever. In the function below, I've named everything.

  def add4Mul2(x):
    z = 4
    y = 2
    return (x + y) * z

  lst = [1,2,3,4]
  x = map(add4Mul2, lst)

  x = map(lambda x: (x+2)*4, [1,2,3,4])