There are several connections between Lambda and functional programming.
1. The snippets of code you run in Lambda are called "cloud functions".
2. Lambda applications are generally event driven and stateless, which is a very functional idiom.
As other folks mentioned, however, you can use Lambda with non functional languages (like Java). So even though a Lambda application is inherently functional (small stateless functions communicating via events), you don't have to write in a functional style if you don't want to.
1. The snippets of code you run in Lambda are called "cloud functions".
2. Lambda applications are generally event driven and stateless, which is a very functional idiom.
As other folks mentioned, however, you can use Lambda with non functional languages (like Java). So even though a Lambda application is inherently functional (small stateless functions communicating via events), you don't have to write in a functional style if you don't want to.