Programming Pradigm

Question 1

What is an imperative program?

Answer 1

Programming languages based on the imperative paradigm make use of assignments or statements which are written to and, therefore, change the state of computer memory; imperative languages can be translated into efficient machine code.

Question 2

Give an example of an imperative paradigm?

Answer 2

• procedural programming.

Question 3

What is a functional paradigm?

Answer 3

The functional paradigm uses programming languages that evaluate mathematical functions, rather than the imperative method where values are assigned to variables; to summarise, variables are determined by calling functions.

Question 4

What are functional programs used for?

Answer 4

Functional programs are used to solve problems in complex structures where the code created is brief and it is, therefore, easier to determine errors

Question 5

What is a logic paradigm?

Answer 5

The logic paradigm is especially useful in solving problems that involve querying and gaining knowledge from declared facts and their rules.

Question 6

What is Prolog?

Answer 6

Prolog is a declarative logic programming language that is widely used in artificial intelligence and in expert system applications; it is useful for rule-based systems

Question 7

What is object orientated paradigm?

Answer 7

The object-oriented paradigm is based on data structures known as objects; these objects are members of a class which are grouped into a class hierarchy.

Question 8

What is an Function?

Answer 8

A function can be defined as a relation between input values from the domain to a set of possible outputs from the codomain, in which each input is related to exactly one output

Question 9

What is a first class object?

Answer 9

A first-class object is a language object which supports the operations normally available to other entities

Question 10

What entities are first class objects available to?

Answer 10

• appearing in expressions
• being assigned to a variable
• being used as an argument for a function
• being returned as an output from a function call

Question 11

What can first class objects consist of?

Answer 11

In many programming languages, first-class objects can consist of the following: integers, floating-point values, characters and strings.

Question 12

Why do functional programs make use of high order functions and first class objects?

Answer 12

Functional programming makes use of higher-order functions and first-class objects, since they can be used as an argument for another function and as the result of a function call.

Question 13

What is Function application?

Answer 13

Function application is the process of providing a function with an input value from its domain to determine an output from its codomain

Question 14

What is partial function application?

Answer 14

Partial function application can be applied to a function that requires more than one argument; this can then be processed by applying the function with some but not all of the arguments needed. A new function is then created to carry out the final part of the function.

Question 15

What is Composition of Functions?

Answer 15

Composition of functions is the process of combining two functions by applying the results of one function to another.

Question 16

Where is composition of functions used?

Answer 16

This technique is widely used in functional programming, where complex functions can be constructed by using simpler functions