Families of languages / G-KOM

There is a common misconception by people unfamiliar with computer programming that all programming languages are essentially the same. In one sense this is true because all digital electronic computers translate programming languages into strings of ones and zeros that is sometimes called Machine code.

While mainstream, personal computer languages tend to be derived from a specific tradition and are very similar (hence the popularity of this misconception), some languages fall into different paradigms which provide for a radically different programming experience. Programming in Java is quite different from programming in assembly language, which is quite different from programming in Haskell or Prolog or Forth, etc.

In the American Scientist article The Semicolon Wars, Brian Hayes classifies languages into four categories: imperative, object-oriented, functional, and declarative. Imperative and object-oriented languages tend to be used in the mainstream, whereas functional and declarative languages tend to be used in academic settings. Functional and declarative programming enthusiasts might argue that the paradigms are 20 years ahead of the mainstream and superior in many respects; however, mainstream language advocates would probably counter that such paradigms are hard to learn, or not very practical for their own unpopularity, among other things. We do not make any claims about who is right on this matter, but at the very least, we will suggest that building familiarity with the four major paradigms is an extremely valuable exercise.

1. Common concepts

Programming languages tend to have many general concepts in common. One can examine the recurring concepts and how they are expressed in various languages in the following table.

Table of language concepts and how they are expressed in various languages.

Available pages for "Key concepts in programming"