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

Paradigm summaries

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

  • Concurrent programming – have language constructs for concurrency, these may involve multi-threading, support for distributed computing, message passing, shared resources (including shared memory), or futures Actor programming – concurrent computation with actors that make local decisions in response to the environment (capable of selfish or competitive behaviour)
  • Constraint programming – relations between variables are expressed as constraints (or constraint networks), directing allowable solutions (uses constraint satisfaction or simplex algorithm)
  • Dataflow programming – forced recalculation of formulas when data values change (e.g. spreadsheets)
  • Declarative programming – describes what computation should perform, without specifying detailed state changes cf. imperative programming (functional and logic programming are major subgroups of declarative programming)
  • Distributed programming – have support for multiple autonomous computers that communicate via computer networks
  • Functional programming – uses evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data
  • Generic programming – 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 – explicit statements that change a program state
  • Logic programming – uses explicit mathematical logic for programming
  • Metaprogramming – 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 – 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 – metaprogramming methods in which a program modifies or extends itself
  • Object-oriented programming – uses data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions (objects) to design programs Class-based – 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 – a simple syntax change to add syntax to nest function calls to language originally designed with none
  • 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
  • Visual programming – manipulating program elements graphically rather than by specifying them textually (e.g. Simulink); also termed diagrammatic programming

Language overview

List of multi-paradigm programming languages
LanguageParadigm countConcurrentConstraintsDataflowDeclarativeDistributedFunctionalMetaprogrammingGenericImperativeLogicReflectionObject-orientedPipelinesVisualRule-basedOther
Ada5Yes—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
ALF2—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
AmigaE [citation needed]2—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
APL3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aArray (multi-dimensional)
BETA [citation needed]3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
C++7 (15)YesLibraryLibraryLibraryLibraryYesYesYesYesLibraryLibraryYesLibrary—N/aLibraryArray (multi-dimensional; using STL)
C#8 (15)YesLibraryLibraryYesLibraryYesYesYesYesLibraryYesYesLibraryLibraryLibraryReactive
ChucK [citation needed]3Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Claire2—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Clojure5Yes—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/aLibrary—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aMultiple dispatch, Agents
Common Lisp7 (14)LibraryLibraryLibraryYesLibraryYesYesYesYesLibraryYesYesLibraryLibraryLibraryMultiple dispatch, meta-OOP system, Language is extensible via metaprogramming.
Curl5—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Curry4YesYes—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
D (version 2.0)7Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Delphi3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Dylan [citation needed]3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
E3Yes—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
ECMAScript (ActionScript, E4X, JavaScript, JScript)4 (5)Partial—N/a—N/aLibrary—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYesLibrary—N/a—N/aReactive, event driven
Erlang3Yes—N/a—N/aYesYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a
Elixir4Yes—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a
Elm6Yes—N/aYesYes—N/aYes (pure)—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aReactive
F#7 (8)Yes—N/aLibraryYes—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/aReactive
Fortran4 (5)Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/aArray (multi-dimensional)
Go4Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYes—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a
Haskell8 (15)YesLibraryLibraryYesLibraryYes (lazy) (pure)YesYesYesLibrary—N/aPartialYesYesLibraryLiterate, reactive, dependent types (partial)
Io4Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
J [citation needed]3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Java6YesLibraryLibrary—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Julia9 (17)YesLibraryLibraryLibraryYesYes (eager)YesYesYesLibraryYesPartialYes—N/aLibraryMultiple dispatch, Array (multi-dimensional); optionally lazy and reactive (with libraries)
Kotlin8Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/aYesYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a
LabVIEW4Yes—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYes—N/a—N/a
Lava2—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYes—N/a—N/a
LispWorks (version 6.0 with support for symmetric multi-processing, rules, logic (Prolog), CORBA)9Yes—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYesYes—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a
Lua [citation needed]3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
MATLAB6 (10)ToolboxToolboxYes—N/aToolbox—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/aYes—N/aArray (multi-dimensional)
Nemerle7Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Object Pascal4Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
OCaml4—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Oz11YesYesYesYesYesYes—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/aYes—N/a
Perl [citation needed]8 (9)Yes—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/aYes—N/aYesYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a
PHP4—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Poplog3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Prograph3—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYes—N/a—N/a
Python5 (10)LibraryLibrary—N/a—N/aLibraryYesYesYesYesLibraryYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/aStructured
R4 (6)Library—N/a—N/a—N/aLibraryYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYesYes—N/a—N/aArray (multi-dimensional)
Racket10YesYesYes—N/aYesYesYes—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/aLazy
Raku10YesLibraryYes—N/aLibraryYesYesYesYes—N/aYesYesYes—N/a—N/aMultiple dispatch, lazy lists, reactive.
ROOP3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a
Ruby5—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYes—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Rust (version 1.0.0-alpha)6Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/aLinear, affline, and ownership types
Sather [citation needed]2—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Scala9Yes—N/aYesYes—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Simula [citation needed]2—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
SISAL3Yes—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Spreadsheets2—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a
Swift7Yes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYesYesYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/aBlock-structured
Tcl with Snit extension [citation needed]3—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/aYes—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a
Visual Basic .NET6 (7)Yes—N/aLibrary—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/aYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/aReactive
Windows PowerShell6—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/a—N/aYes—N/aYesYes—N/aYesYesYes—N/a—N/a—N/a
Wolfram Language & Mathematica13 (14)YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes—N/aYesKnowledge Based

See also

Notes

Citations

  • Jim Coplien, Multiparadigm Design for C++, Addison-Wesley Professional, 1998.