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Questions tagged [imperative-languages]

Imperative programming languages is a programming paradigm that describes computation in terms of statements that change a program state.

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Why most "well-known" imperative/OO languages allow unchecked access to types that can represent a 'nothing' value?

I have been reading about the (un)convenience of having null instead of (for example) Maybe. After reading this article, I am convinced that it would be much better to use Maybe (or something similar). However, I am surprised to see that all the…
aochagavia
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Are there any empirical studies on the effect of different languages on software quality?

The proponents of functional programming languages assert that functional programming makes it easier to reason about code. Those in favor of statically typed languages say that their compilers catch enough errors to make up for the additional…
jgre
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Functional programming, compared to the process of a computer

In functional programming, it is considered bad practice (at least from my observations) to use state changes. Since computers operate in an imperative-language-like matter (performing one operation at a time, changing states of RAM), isn't…
sneelhorses
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Being great in one language when you need to know many?

My job requires me to know how to work with Ruby, Python, Bash, Puppet, Golang, MySQL and occasionally Scala and PHP. Yes I really do have projects including most of these and there are weeks where I have 3-4 tickets from projects which cause daily…
Biff
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Is there a difference between casting and converting types in imperative programming languages?

The question came up in a discussion at StackOverflow. Is there a clean distinction between the two concepts cast and convert (concerning the type of an object), or are these two words describing exactly the same? How about languages other than C++,…
krlmlr
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Are there any academic papers on the merits of imperative over functional programming?

There are lots of academic papers on the merits of functional programming floating around. There's also a lot of debate that I see (on the internet) going on about the relative merits of imperative vs. functional programming. I'm interested to know…
gregghz
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How to better start learning programming - with imperative or declarative languages?

Someone is interested in learning to program. What language paradigm should I recomend him - imperative or declarative? And what programming language should he start with? I think that declarative because it is closer to math. And I would say that…
user712092
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Have you ever done a project using a languages that is not the mainstream choice for the specific niche of the project? Why?

I was thinking about my academic experience with Smalltalk (well, Squeak) a while ago and whether I would like to use it for something, and it got me thinking: sure, it's as good and capable as any popular language, and it has some nice ideas, but…
EpsilonVector
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Is a generic data structure customary for use in a self contained program, or can I duplicate source files?

I have a project that does some Dijkstra searches on a graph, I implemented a red-black tree and priority queue that I use for the nodes, however I also need the same data structures for other things such as edges. I think there will only be 2,…
Materia Gravis
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Is it possible to use functional paradigm in imperative languages?

If I understand the concept correctly the goal, which functional languages are trying to achieve is to eliminate any side effects from functions and to eliminate a state. The rationale behind this is to obtain referential transparency, which leads…
mip
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What are the types of tasks for which Functional Programming paradigm really wins over imperative one?

During its evolution C# gradually gets more and more features which belong to functional paradigm. Subjectively these features allow (at least me) to be more productive, fluent and write maintainable and readable code (well.. I thins so). But I'm…
Pavel Voronin
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