Multi-paradigm programming language

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A multi-paradigm programming language is a programming language that supports more than one programming paradigm. As Leda designer Timothy Budd holds it: The idea of a multiparadigm language is to provide a framework in which programmers can work in a variety of styles, freely intermixing constructs from different paradigms. The design goal of such languages is to allow programmers to use the best tool for a job, admitting that no one paradigm solves all problems in the easiest or most efficient way.

An example is Oz, which has subsets that are a logic language (Oz descends from logic programming), a functional language, an object-oriented language, a dataflow concurrent language, and more. Oz was designed over a ten-year period to combine in a harmonious way concepts that are traditionally associated with different programming paradigms.

Contents 1 Multiparadigm languages 1.1 Paradigm summaries 1.2 Two paradigms 1.3 Three paradigms 1.4 Four paradigms 1.5 Five paradigms 1.6 Eight paradigms 2 See also 3 References

[edit] Multiparadigm languages

Languages can be grouped by the number and types of paradigms supported.

[edit] Paradigm summaries

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

Dataflow 

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

Visual programming language 

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

Declarative programming 

describes actions (e.g. HTML describes a page but not how to actually display it)

Imperative programming 

explicit statements that change a program state

Functional programming 

uses evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data

Object-Oriented programming 

uses classes and instances, inheritance, encapsulation and polymorphism

Prototype-based programming 

object-oriented programming that avoids classes and implements inheritance via the cloning of instances

Parallel computing 

simultaneous execution with the necessary communication and synchronization between processes/threads

Actor model 

concurrent computation with "actors" that makes local decisions in response to the environment (capable of selfish or competitive behavior)

Pipeline programming 

no nested function calls, but a simple flow structures with easy to visualize/understand data flow through the program

Constraint programming 

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

Rule-based programming 

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

Logic programming 

uses logical facts to create a model that can prove consistency, deduce further truths or answer questions about the model (e.g. Dogs are animals! Dogs are red! Are some animals red?)

Reflective programming 

special case of metaprogramming (modification of programs as data by another program or ability to do part of the work in runtime instead of compile time) in which the program modifies or extends itself

[edit] Two paradigms

• dataflow, visual
  • LabVIEW
• functional, imperative
  • APL
• functional, logic
  • ALF
• functional, object-oriented (class-based)
  • Dylan^{[citation needed]}
  • Sather^{[citation needed]}
  • Claire
• functional, visual
  • Spreadsheets
• imperative, object-oriented (class-based)
  • AmigaE^{[citation needed]}
  • Simula^{[citation needed]}
• object-oriented (class-based), (prototype-based)
  • Metaobject protocols
• object-oriented (class-based), visual
  • Lava

[edit] Three paradigms

• imperative,visual,object-oriented
  • PointDragon
• concurrent, dataflow, functional
  • SISAL
• concurrent, functional, distributed
  • Erlang
• concurrent, functional, logic
  • Curry
• concurrent, imperative, object-oriented (class-based)
  • ChucK^{[citation needed]}
• dataflow, object-oriented (class-based), visual
  • Prograph
• functional, imperative, logic
  • Poplog
• functional, imperative, object-oriented (class-based)
  • BETA^{[citation needed]}
  • F#^{[citation needed]}
  • J^{[citation needed]}
  • Perl^{[citation needed]}
  • Pliant^{[citation needed]}
  • Python ^[1]
  • Ruby
  • Tcl with itcl or XOTcl extensions^{[citation needed]}
  • PHP^[2][3][4]

• functional, imperative, object-oriented (prototype-based)
  • ECMAScript ^[5][6]
    • ActionScript
    • DMDScript
    • E4X
    • JavaScript
    • JScript
  • Lua^{[citation needed]}
  • Tcl with Snit extension^{[citation needed]}
• generic (template metaprogramming), imperative, object-oriented (class-based)
  • C++
  • D

[edit] Four paradigms

• imperative, generic, reflective, object-oriented (class-based)
  • Java
• functional, imperative, generic (template metaprogramming), object-oriented (class-based)
  • Objective Caml
• functional, imperative, concurrent (Actor model), object-oriented (class-based)
  • Scala^[7]
• functional, imperative, concurrent (Actor model), object-oriented (prototype-based)
  • Io
• functional, imperative, logic, object-oriented (class-based)
  • Leda
• functional, imperative, object-oriented (prototype-based), dialected
  • REBOL
• imperative, logic, object-oriented (class-based), rule-based
  • ROOP
• functional, imperative, object-oriented (class-based), reflective
  • Common Lisp^{[citation needed]} (although there are other paradigms implemented as libraries)

[edit] Five paradigms

• concurrent (rendezvous and monitor-like based), distributed, generic, imperative, object-oriented (class-based)
  • Ada^{[8][9][10][11][12]}
• functional (only lambda support), imperative, generic, reflective, object-oriented (class-based)
  • C#
  • Visual Basic .NET
• functional, imperative, generic, object-oriented (class-based), metaprogramming
  • Nemerle
• functional, imperative, object-oriented (class-based), metaprogramming, reflective
  • Falcon programming language
• functional, imperative, pipeline, object-oriented (class-based), reflective
  • Windows PowerShell
• functional, generic (template metaprogramming), imperative, object-oriented (class-based), reflective
  • Curl

[edit] Eight paradigms

• concurrent, constraint, dataflow, distributed, functional (evaluation: eager, lazy), imperative, logic, object-oriented (class-based)
  • Oz^{[citation needed]}
    • Mozart Programming System (a multiplatform Oz)

[edit] See also

• Programming paradigm
• Categorical list of programming languages
• Domain-specific programming language
• Domain-specific multimodeling

[edit] References

v • d • e Types of programming languages Array · Aspect-oriented · Assembly · Class-based · Compiled · Concurrent · Curly bracket · Data-oriented · Data-structured · Dataflow · Declarative · Domain-specific · Dynamic · Esoteric · Event-driven · Extensible · Functional · High-level · Imperative · Interpreted · Logic · Low-level · Machine · Macro · Metaprogramming · Multi-paradigm · Non-English-based · Object-oriented · Off-side rule · Pipeline · Procedural · Prototype-based · Reflective · Rule-based · Scripting · Synchronous · Visual