Okay, so let's say you have some blocks that you like to play with. Each block does something different. Some blocks can stack on top of each other, and some blocks can't.
Total functional programming is like building with those blocks, but you can only use each block once. Once you use a block, you can't use it again.
Also, each block does only one thing. And when you use a block, you have to make sure it fits perfectly with the blocks you already used before.
So, it's like building a tower, and each block fits perfectly, and you can only use each block once.
Total functional programming is a way of programming where each function or process only does one thing, and you can't change the input in any way. This means that you can be sure that the output will always be the same for the same input, and there won't be any unexpected surprises.