ProgrammingParadigm

Last edit December 26, 2013

Paradigm originally meant something like 'exemplar'/'pattern'/'template' but in the last 30 years has come to mean something more like 'zeitgeist'/'worldview'. In the former sense, ThereAreExactlyThreeParadigms, this page as about the second sense, but it will be useful to give the defining example of each way of thinking. In no particular order

A programming paradigm provides for the programmer the means and structure for the execution of a program.

Programmers can think of programs

In ObjectOrientedProgramming
- as a collection of interacting objects
In FunctionalProgramming
- as a sequence of stateless function evaluations

Many programming paradigms are as well-known for what they do not do as for what they do. This avoidance of certain techniques can make it easier to prove theorems about a program's correctness and to simply understand its behavior, without limiting it.

PureFunctionalProgramming
- disallows the use of side-effects
Structured programming
- disallows the use of goto.

Programming languages advocate different paradigms

Languages designed
- to support object-oriented programming
  - SmalltalkLanguage
  - JavaLanguage
- to support functional programming
  - HaskellLanguage
  - SchemeLanguage
Other programming languages designed
- to support multiple paradigms
- to support SeparationOfConcerns - AspectOrientedProgramming
  - AspectJay
  - IoLanguage
CollectionOrientedProgramming
- programming using operations on entire collections, avoiding loops
- languages supporting this paradigm are intrinsically suitable to both sequential and parallel/distributed execution
  - SetlLanguage
  - AplLanguage
  - JayLanguage
  - KayLanguage
  - Other query based languages
AccessOrientedProgramming
- using records with handlers attached to each variable/slot
ConcatenativeProgramming
- Based on a composition of functions to a single argument (usually a 2D stack)
ConceptOrientedProgramming
- Based on a concept as the main programming construct
  - which is a pair, dual continuation methods
    - one object class
    - one reference class (see ConceptInCop).
  - It's life cycle is controlled by two pairs of dual creation/deletion methods
  - Two types of methods distinguished in any system:
    - paradigm which also includes ConceptOrientedModel.
  - More information can be found on the concept-oriented portal
    - http://conceptoriented.org
ConstraintProgramming and ConstraintLogicProgramming
- based on LogicProgramming with constraints
  - OzLanguage
DataflowProgramming
- based on FlowBasedProgramming
  - PrographLanguage
  - GeeLanguage
DeclarativeProgramming
- based on writing computer programs by specifying what the programs should do, and not how they should do it
- declarative programs are ExecutableSpecification'''s
- Emphasizes programming without explicit state
DesignByContract* (EiffelLanguage)
still OO.
EventDrivenProgramming
- Does 2iota (http://catseye.mine.nu:8080/) count?
EquationalProgramming (KjuLanguage (Q - Is kju the correct WikiWord?))
- Extension of functional programming.
FormalLanguage'''s ?
FunctionalProgramming
- 'Functional programming is a style of programming that emphasizes the evaluation of expressions, rather than execution of commands. The expressions in these language are formed by using functions to combine basic values. A functional language is a language that supports and encourages programming in a functional style.' (from the FP FAQ)
- see CategoryFunctionalProgramming
  - HaskellLanguage
  - MlLanguage
GenerativeProgramming
- Most commonly the idea that there are multiple views of a single piece of code
- that it is best to separate these out (potentially in languages/paradigms)
- and let the compiler worry about putting these together.
- The separate pieces are meant to capture your intent more succinctly.
GeneticProgramming - EvolutionaryProgramming
- using generic optimization methods (usually GeneticAlgorithm'''s ,
- also SimulatedAnnealing and the like to generate programs which evolve to match a specification
- or complete a task.
- Akin to DeclarativeProgramming in that you try to specify the 'what' but not the 'how'.
LogicProgramming - DeclarativeProgramming
- using logic, specifically the PredicateCalculus.
  - PrologLanguage
  - MercuryLanguage)
MessagePassingConcurrency - CommunicatingSequentialProcesses
- Concurrency expressed by passing messages between processes or active objects
FlowBasedProgramming
- a type of MessagePassingConcurrency
- the primary application development tool is not a language as such, but basically a list of connections defining a network of communicating components.
TermRewriteSystems
- powerful for modeling and theorem proving. "Variables" describe whole domains rather than individual elements. Rules are often bi-directional, allowing expansions before reductions. A program is an functional application that gets reduced to canonical form. Falls somewhere between LogicProgramming and FunctionalProgramming.
  - MaudeLanguage
  - ObjLanguage

ModularProgramming

ObjectBasedProgramming and ComponentBasedProgramming
- Distinguished from OO typically by a lack of inheritance for the 'components', but still a version of OO.
  - Early versions of VisualBasic
ObjectOrientedProgramming
- Characterized by encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism, though see ObjectOrientedProgramming for a fuller discussion.
ProceduralProgramming
- Characterized by having procedures, functions, and ADTs
- usually no inheritance, encapsulation, or polymorphism
PrototypeBasedProgramming
- A version of OO but characterized by cloning objects to obtain instances which can then be customized
ReflectiveProgramming
- See http://www.tunes.org/
RelationalLanguage
- Programming based on the RelationalAlgebra / RelationalModel. See also TableOrientedProgramming
StringProgramming - ScriptingLanguage
- EverythingIsa string: text constants are the universal media both for the program and all the data.
- Easy handling for external programs (a feature which came from job control languages).
- Rich string/text processing features
- including RegularExpression'''s etc - Obviously this is obligatory when everything is a string
- Eval feature, that is, the possibility to form a string and apply the language interpreter to it as a code
- See DynamicStringsVsFunctional for examples
  - PerlLanguage
  - ToolCommandLanguage
  - AwkLanguage
  - RexxLanguage (maybe?)
SetOrientedProgramming
- related to ConstraintLogicProgramming and CollectionOrientedProgramming.
  - SetlLanguage
StructuredProgramming
- see also FunctionalDecomposition
SymbolicProgramming
A paradigm?
- Well these can imitate most of the others (look at the StructureAndInterpretationOfComputerPrograms for examples of scheme doing OO, logic programming, and FunctionalProgramming)
- perhaps these should not be listed separately from the 'pure' FunctionalLanguage'''s
- they are an important class of languages
- Treat code as data and vice-versa.
TableDrivenProgramming
- classic example is the parsers constructed by YetAnotherCompilerCompiler.
- most implementations of large FiniteStateMachine'''s are built this way.
  - (no example languages)
TableOrientedProgramming - CollectionOrientedProgramming
- based on the RelationalModel

It's worth noting that a number of the styles above are
- based more or less directly on mathematical models
- While Other languages 'just happened'

New paradigms are often not well received by those accustomed to earlier styles.

A programming language can support multiple paradigms. CeePlusPlus is designed to support elements of procedural programming, object-based programming, object-oriented programming, functional programming, and generic programming.

Designers and programmers can decide how to build a program using any or a mix of these paradigm elements.

Thus a programmer can write a program in C++ that

is a purely procedural program
is a purely object-oriented program
contains elements of both paradigms
contains elements of functional programming
uses methods of generic programming

InformalHistoryOfProgrammingIdeas, GroundBreakingLanguages, MultiParadigmProgramming, MultiParadigmProgrammingLanguage, MixingParadigms, ParadigmsOfArtificialIntelligenceProgramming, WhenToUseWhatParadigm, WhatIsaParadigm

AugustZeroSix

CategoryProgrammingLanguageComparisons CategoryRoadMap, CategoryMultiparadigm