Programming Paradigms Comparison

• Imperative Programming
  • Characteristics: statements mutate program state directly (let, loops, assignments)
  • Architecture Influence: stateful services, command-driven architecture
• Procedural Programming
  • Characteristics: step-by-step, linear control flow, mutable state
  • Architecture Influence: transaction script, single responsibility units, shallow call graphs
• Object-Oriented Programming
  • Characteristics: classes/objects, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism
  • Architecture Influence: DDD, layered architecture, clean architecture, hexagonal
• Prototype-based Programming
  • Characteristics: objects inherit from other objects, delegation over inheritance
  • Architecture Influence: flexible object composition, dynamic plugin systems
• Functional Programming
  • Characteristics: pure functions, immutability, no shared state, higher-order functions, pattern matching, curry, single argument functions, composition
  • Architecture Influence: functional pipelines, stateless services, async stream processing
• Closure-based Programming
  • Characteristics: functions hold private state via closures, encapsulated behavior
  • Architecture Influence: lightweight encapsulation, reactive units, factory patterns
• Actor Model
  • Characteristics: message passing, no shared memory, isolated context, transparent concurrency units
  • Architecture Influence: distributed systems, concurrency-safe services, microservices
• Structural Programming
  • Blocks, No goto
• Declarative Programming
  • Characteristics: emphasizes what over how, side-effect free, high-level code, DSLs, self-descriptive
  • Architecture Influence: configuration-over-code, rule engines
• Contract programming
  • Characteristics: difine contracts
  • Architecture Influence: stable and clear, self-descriptive
• Reactive Programming
  • Characteristics: observable streams, event-driven, push-based, backpressure-aware
  • Architecture Influence: UIs, data stream processing, feedback loops, real-time pipelines
• Finite-State Machines / Automata
  • Characteristics: explicit states, transitions, events, deterministic flow
  • Architecture Influence: workflow engines
• Metaprogramming
  • Characteristics: code generation, reflection, macros, introspection
  • Architecture Influence: high flexibility, scaffolding