  Functionals are an important research subject in Mathematics and Computer
Science as well as a challenge in Information Technologies where the current
programming paradigm states that only symbolic computations are possible on
higher order objects, i.e. functionals are terms, and computation is term
rewriting. The idea explored in the paper is that functionals correspond to
generic mechanisms for management of connections in arrays consisting of first
order functional units. Functionals are higher order abstractions that are
useful for the management of such large arrays. Computations on higher order
objects comprise dynamic configuration of connections between first order
elementary functions in the arrays. Once the functionals are considered as the
generic mechanisms, they have a grounding in hardware. A conceptual framework
for constructing such mechanisms is presented, and their hardware realization
is discussed.
