FIT2102 - Programming paradigms

Familiarity with a variety of differently constructed programming languages, like learning to speak in a variety of natural languages, is a useful skill. Even if it is possible to state something or express ideas in one language, perhaps in two screens-full of code in the language with which we are most fluent, a language based on a different paradigm (style), may be simpler or more powerful for some tasks. It may enable the same thing to be expressed in only two lines of code. What is more important, understanding different computer languages enables us to tackle problems in dramatically different ways. A different choice of paradigm may lead to entirely new, more efficient, ways of solving a problem.

This subject examines a selection of programming languages and paradigms such as functional programming, logic programming and string processing, comparing them to paradigms students are probably already familiar with, for instance object-oriented, imperative and procedural programming paradigms. Topics include specification techniques (control mechanisms, data-modelling techniques including types and polymorphism) and touch on implementation-related issues (run-time environments, parameter passing methods), and the role of recursion versus iteration. The unit provides practical experience with a variety of non-procedural, non-object-oriented programming languages.