Programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

s can be grouped by the number and types of

paradigms In science and philosophy, a paradigm () is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. Etymology ''Paradigm'' comes f ...

supported.

Paradigm summaries

A concise reference for the programming paradigms listed in this article. *

Concurrent programming Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), ...

– have language constructs for concurrency, these may involve multi-threading, support for distributed computing, message passing, shared resources (including shared memory), or

futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...

** Actor programming – concurrent computation with ''actors'' that make local decisions in response to the environment (capable of selfish or competitive behaviour) *

Constraint programming Constraint programming (CP) is a paradigm for solving combinatorial problems that draws on a wide range of techniques from artificial intelligence, computer science, and operations research. In constraint programming, users declaratively state th ...

– relations between variables are expressed as constraints (or constraint networks), directing allowable solutions (uses constraint satisfaction or

simplex algorithm In mathematical optimization, Dantzig's simplex algorithm (or simplex method) is a popular algorithm for linear programming. The name of the algorithm is derived from the concept of a simplex and was suggested by T. S. Motzkin. Simplices are n ...

) *

Dataflow programming In computer programming, dataflow programming is a programming paradigm that models a program as a directed graph of the data flowing between operations, thus implementing dataflow principles and architecture. Dataflow programming languages share ...

– forced recalculation of formulas when data values change (e.g.

spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cel ...

s) *

Declarative programming In computer science, declarative programming is a programming paradigm—a style of building the structure and elements of computer programs—that expresses the logic of a computation without describing its control flow. Many languages that ap ...

– describes what computation should perform, without specifying detailed state changes c.f. imperative programming (functional and logic programming are major subgroups of declarative programming) *

Distributed programming A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...

– have support for multiple autonomous computers that communicate via computer networks *

Functional programming In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm where programs are constructed by Function application, applying and Function composition (computer science), composing Function (computer science), functions. It is a declar ...

– uses evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data *

Generic programming Generic programming is a style of computer programming in which algorithms are written in terms of types ''to-be-specified-later'' that are then ''instantiated'' when needed for specific types provided as parameters. This approach, pioneered b ...

– uses algorithms written in terms of to-be-specified-later types that are then instantiated as needed for specific types provided as parameters *

Imperative programming In computer science, imperative programming is a programming paradigm of software that uses statements that change a program's state. In much the same way that the imperative mood in natural languages expresses commands, an imperative program c ...

– explicit statements that change a program state *

Logic programming Logic programming is a programming paradigm which is largely based on formal logic. Any program written in a logic programming language is a set of sentences in logical form, expressing facts and rules about some problem domain. Major logic prog ...

– uses explicit mathematical logic for programming *

Metaprogramming Metaprogramming is a programming technique in which computer programs have the ability to treat other programs as their data. It means that a program can be designed to read, generate, analyze or transform other programs, and even modify itself ...

– writing programs that write or manipulate other programs (or themselves) as their data, or that do part of the work at compile time that would otherwise be done at runtime **

Template metaprogramming Template metaprogramming (TMP) is a metaprogramming technique in which templates are used by a compiler to generate temporary source code, which is merged by the compiler with the rest of the source code and then compiled. The output of these te ...

– metaprogramming methods in which a compiler uses templates to generate temporary source code, which is merged by the compiler with the rest of the source code and then compiled **

Reflective programming In computer science, reflective programming or reflection is the ability of a process to examine, introspect, and modify its own structure and behavior. Historical background The earliest computers were programmed in their native assembly lan ...

– metaprogramming methods in which a program modifies or extends itself *

Object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pr ...

– uses data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions (objects) to design programs **

Class-based Class-based programming, or more commonly class-orientation, is a style of object-oriented programming (OOP) in which inheritance (object-oriented programming), inheritance occurs via defining ''class (computer programming), classes'' of object ...

– object-oriented programming in which inheritance is achieved by defining classes of objects, versus the objects themselves ** Prototype-based – object-oriented programming that avoids classes and implements inheritance via cloning of instances *

Pipeline programming In software engineering, a pipeline consists of a chain of processing elements (processes, threads, coroutines, functions, ''etc.''), arranged so that the output of each element is the input of the next; the name is by analogy to a physical pi ...

– a simple syntax change to add syntax to nest function calls to language originally designed with none *

Rule-based programming Logic programming is a programming paradigm which is largely based on formal logic. Any program written in a logic programming language is a set of sentences in logical form, expressing facts and rules about some problem domain. Major logic prog ...

– a network of rules of thumb that comprise a knowledge base and can be used for expert systems and problem deduction & resolution *

Visual programming In computing, a visual programming language (visual programming system, VPL, or, VPS) is any programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements ''graphically'' rather than by specifying them ''textually''. A VP ...

– manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually (e.g.

Simulink Simulink is a MATLAB-based graphical programming environment for modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamical systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers t ...

); also termed ''diagrammatic programming''

Language overview

Notes

Citations

References

* Jim Coplien, ''Multiparadigm Design for C++'', Addison-Wesley Professional, 1998. {{DEFAULTSORT:List of multi-paradigm programming languages Programming paradigms Programming language comparisons

Paradigm summaries

Language overview

See also

Notes

Citations

References