Comparison of multi-paradigm programming languages

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 c.f. 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 ^[1]

Language overview

List of multi-paradigm programming languages

Language	Paradigm count	Concurrent	Constraints	Dataflow	Declarative	Distributed	Functional	Metaprogramming	Generic	Imperative	Logic	Reflection	Object-oriented	Pipelines	Visual	Rule-based	Other
Ada [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]	5	Yes [a 1]	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
ALF	2	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
AmigaE [ citation needed ]	2	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
APL	3	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Array (multi-dimensional)
BETA [ citation needed ]	3	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
C++	7 (15)	Yes [7] [8] [9]	Library [10]	Library [11] [12]	Library [13] [14]	Library [15] [16]	Yes	Yes [17]	Yes [a 3]	Yes	Library [18] [19]	Library [20]	Yes [a 2]	Yes [21]	No	Library [22]	Array (multi-dimensional; using STL)
C#	6 (7)	Yes	No	Library [a 4]	No	No	Yes [a 5]	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	Reactive [a 6]
ChucK [ citation needed ]	3	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Claire	2	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Clojure	5	Yes [23] [24]	No	No	Yes	No	Yes [25]	Yes [26]	No	No	Library [27]	No	No	Yes [28]	Editor [29]	No	Multiple dispatch, [30] Agents [31]
Common Lisp	7 (14)	Library [32]	Library [33]	Library [34]	Yes [35]	Library [36]	Yes	Yes	Yes [37]	Yes	Library [38]	Yes	Yes [a 7] [a 2] [39]	Library [40]	Library [41]	Library [42]	Multiple dispatch, meta-OOP system, [43] Language is extensible via metaprogramming.
Curl	5	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes [a 3]	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Curry	4	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
D (version 2.0) [44] [45]	7	Yes [a 8]	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes [46] [a 3]	Yes [a 3]	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Delphi	3	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes [a 3]	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Dylan [ citation needed ]	3	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
E	3	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
ECMAScript [47] [48] (ActionScript, E4X, JavaScript, JScript)	4 (5)	Partial [a 9] [a 10]	No	No	Library [49] [50]	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 11]	Library [51] [52]	Editor [53]	No	Reactive, [a 12] [54] event driven [a 13] [a 14]
Erlang	3	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
Elixir	4	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No
Elm	6	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes (pure) [a 15]	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Reactive
F#	7 (8)	Yes [a 8]	No	Library [a 4]	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	Reactive [a 6]
Fortran	4 (5)	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes [a 15]	No	Yes [a 16]	No	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	Array (multi-dimensional)
Go	4	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Haskell	8 (15)	Yes	Library [55]	Library [56]	Yes	Library [57]	Yes (lazy) (pure) [a 15]	Yes [58]	Yes	Yes	Library [59]	No	Partial [a 17]	Yes	Yes	Library [60]	Literate, reactive, dependent types (partial)
Io	4	Yes [a 8]	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 11]	No	No	No	No
J [ citation needed ]	3	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Java	6	Yes	Library [61]	Library [62]	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Julia	9 (17)	Yes	Library [63]	Library [64] [65]	Library [66]	Yes	Yes (eager)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Library [67]	Yes	Yes [a 18]	Yes	No	Library [68] [69]	Multiple dispatch, Array (multi-dimensional); optionally lazy [70] and reactive (with libraries)
Kotlin	8	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
LabVIEW	4	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Lava	2	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	Yes	No	No
LispWorks (version 6.0 with support for symmetric multi-processing, rules, logic (Prolog), CORBA)	9	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	Yes	No
Lua [ citation needed ]	3	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 11]	No	No	No	No
MATLAB	6 (10)	Toolbox [71]	Toolbox [72]	Yes [73]	No	Toolbox [74]	No	Yes [75]	Yes [76]	No	No	Yes [77]	Yes [78]	No	Yes [79]	No	Array (multi-dimensional)
Nemerle	7	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Object Pascal	4	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
OCaml	4	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Oz	11	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes [a 2]	Yes	No	Yes	No
Perl [ citation needed ]	8 (9)	Yes [80]	Library [81]	Yes [82]	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes [a 2]	Yes [a 2]	Yes	No	No	No
PHP [83] [84] [85]	4	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Poplog	3	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No
Prograph	3	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	Yes	No	No
Python	5 (10)	Library [86] [87]	Library [88]	No	No	Library [89]	Yes	Yes [90] [91]	Yes [92] [93]	Yes	Library [94]	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	Editor [95]	No	Structured
R	4 (6)	Library [96]	No	No	No	Library [97]	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes [98]	No	No	Array (multi-dimensional)
Racket	10	Yes [99]	Yes [100]	Yes [101]	No	Yes [102]	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Lazy [103]
Raku	10	Yes [104]	Yes [105]	Yes [106]	No	Library [107]	Yes	Yes [108]	Yes [109]	Yes	No	Yes [110]	Yes [111]	Yes	No	No	Multiple dispatch, lazy lists, reactive.
ROOP	3	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Ruby	5	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Rust (version 1.0.0-alpha)	6	Yes [a 8]	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes [112] [113]	Yes [114]	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Linear, affline, and ownership types
Sather [ citation needed ]	2	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Scala [115] [116]	9	Yes [a 8]	No	Yes [a 19]	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
Simula [ citation needed ]	2	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	No
SISAL	3	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Spreadsheets	2	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Swift	7	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	Block-structured
Tcl with Snit extension [ citation needed ]	3	No	No	No	No	No	Yes [117]	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes [a 11] [118]	No	No	No	No
Visual Basic .NET	6 (7)	Yes	No	Library [a 4]	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	No	No	No	Reactive [a 6]
Windows PowerShell	6	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [a 2]	Yes	No	No	No
Wolfram Language & Mathematica	13 [119] (14)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes [120]	No	Yes	Knowledge Based

See also

• Programming paradigm
• List of programming languages by type
• Domain-specific language
• Domain-specific multimodeling

Notes

1. rendezvous and monitor-like based
2. class-based
3. template metaprogramming
4. using TPL Dataflow
5. only lambda support (lazy functional programming)
6. using Reactive Extensions (Rx)
7. multiple dispatch, method combinations
8. actor programming
9. promises, native extensions
10. using Node.js' cluster module or child_process.fork method, web workers in the browser, etc.
11. Prototype-based
12. using Reactive Extensions (RxJS)
13. in Node.js via their events module
14. in browsers via their native EventTarget API
15. purely functional
16. parameterized classes
17. immutable
18. multiple dispatch, not traditional single
19. Akka Archived 2013-01-19 at the Wayback Machine

Citations

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2. Ada Reference Manual, ISO/IEC 8652:2005(E) Ed. 3, Section 9: Tasks and Synchronization
3. Ada Reference Manual, ISO/IEC 8652:2005(E) Ed. 3 Annex E: Distributed Systems
4. Ada Reference Manual, ISO/IEC 8652:2005(E) Ed. 3, Section 12: Generic Units
5. Ada Reference Manual, ISO/IEC 8652:2005(E) Ed. 3, Section 6: Subprograms
6. Ada Reference Manual, ISO/IEC 8652:2005(E) Ed. 3, 3.9 Tagged Types and Type Extensions
7. Thread support
8. Atomics support
9. Memory model
10. Gecode
11. SystemC
12. Boost.Iostreams
13. Boolinq
14. "AraRat" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-19. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
15. OpenMPI
16. Boost.MPI
17. Boost.MPL
18. LC++
19. Castor Archived 2013-01-25 at the Wayback Machine
20. Reflect Library
21. N3534
22. Boost.Spirit
23. Clojure - Concurrent Programming
24. Clojure - core.async
25. Clojure - Functional Programming
26. Clojure - Macros
27. Clojure - core.logic
28. Clojure - Threading Macros Guide
29. "Light Table". 2019-04-08.
30. Multimethods and Hierarchies
31. Agents and Asynchronous Actions
32. many concurrency paradigms implemented as language extensions
33. constraint programming inside CL through extensions
34. dataflow extension
35. by creating DSLs using the built-in metaprogramming; also see note on functional, constraint and logic paradigms, which are part of declarative
36. MPI, etc via language extensions
37. template metaprogramming using macros (see C++)
38. Prolog implemented as a language extension
39. Common Lisp Object System see Wikipedia article on CLOS, the Common Lisp Object System.
40. implemented by the user via a short macro, example of implementation
41. - Visual programming tool based on Common Lisp
42. rule-based programming extension
43. Archived 2018-04-26 at the Wayback Machine through the Meta Object Protocol
44. D Language Feature Table
45. Phobos std.algorithm
46. D language String Mixins
47. The Little JavaScripter demonstrates fundamental commonality with Scheme, a functional language.
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56. "Functional Reactive Programming". HaskellWiki.
57. Cloud Haskell
58. "Template Haskell". HaskellWiki.
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62. https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/DataflowJavaSDK Google Cloud Platform Dataflow SDK
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65. "GitHub - JuliaGizmos/Reactive.jl: Reactive programming primitives for Julia". GitHub . 2018-12-28.
66. https://github.com/davidanthoff/Query.jl Query almost anything in julia
67. https://github.com/lilinjn/LilKanren.jl A collection of Kanren implementations in Julia
68. "GitHub - abeschneider/PEGParser.jl: PEG Parser for Julia". GitHub . 2018-12-03.
69. "GitHub - gitfoxi/Parsimonious.jl: A PEG parser generator for Julia". GitHub . 2017-08-03.
70. Lazy https://github.com/MikeInnes/Lazy.jl
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72. "Write Constraints". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
73. "Getting Started with SimEvents". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
74. "Execute loop iterations in parallel". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
75. "Execute MATLAB expression in text - MATLAB eval". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
76. "Determine class of object". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
77. "Class Metadata". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
78. "Object-Oriented Programming". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
79. "Simulink". mathworks.com. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
80. interpreter based threads
81. Moose
82. Higher Order Perl
83. PHP Manual, Chapter 17. Functions
84. PHP Manual, Chapter 19. Classes and Objects (PHP 5)
85. PHP Manual, Anonymous functions
86. "Parallel Processing and Multiprocessing in Python". Python Wiki. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
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89. "DistributedProgramming". Python Wiki. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
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92. "PEP 443 – Single-dispatch generic functions". python.org. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
93. "PEP 484 – Type Hints". python.org. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
94. "PyDatalog" . Retrieved 22 October 2016.
95. "Light Table". 2019-04-08.
96. "Futureverse".
97. "future batchtools".
98. "Magrittr: A Forward Pipe Operator for R". cran.r-project.org\access-date=13 July 2017. 17 November 2020.
99. Racket Guide: Concurrency and Synchronization
100. The Rosette Guide
101. FrTime: A Language for Reactive Programs
102. Racket Guide: Distributed Places
103. Lazy Racket
104. Channels and other mechanisms
105. "Class Signature".
106. Feed operator
107. https://github.com/perl6/doc/issues/1744#issuecomment-360565196 Cro module
108. "Meta-programming: What, why and how". 2011-12-14.
109. https://perl6advent.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/day-18-roles/ Parametrized Roles
110. "Meta-object protocol (MOP)".
111. https://docs.perl6.org/language/classtut Classes and Roles
112. "The Rust macros guide". Rust. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
113. "The Rust compiler plugins guide". Rust. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
114. The Rust Reference §6.1.3.1
115. An Overview of the Scala Programming Language
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119. Notes for Programming Language Experts, Wolfram Language Documentation.
120. External Programs, Wolfram Language Documentation.

References

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