research-article

A feature model of actor, agent, functional, object, and procedural programming languages

Science of Computer Programming, Volume 98, Issue P2

Pages 120 - 139

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scico.2014.02.009

Published: 01 February 2015 Publication History

Abstract

The number of programming languages is large and steadily increasing. However, little structured information and empirical evidence is available to help software engineers assess the suitability of a language for a particular development project or software architecture.We argue that these shortages are partly due to a lack of high-level, objective programming language feature assessment criteria: existing advice to practitioners is often based on ill-defined notions of 'paradigms' 3, p. xiii and 'orientation', while researchers lack a shared common basis for generalisation and synthesis of empirical results.This paper presents a feature model constructed from the programmer's perspective, which can be used to precisely compare general-purpose programming languages in the actor-oriented, agent-oriented, functional, object-oriented, and procedural categories. The feature model is derived from the existing literature on general concepts of programming, and validated with concrete mappings of well-known languages in each of these categories. The model is intended to act as a tool for both practitioners and researchers, to facilitate both further high-level comparative studies of programming languages, and detailed investigations of feature usage and efficacy in specific development contexts. A survey of existing programming language comparisons and comparison techniques.Definitions of actor, agent, functional, object, and procedural programming concepts.A feature model of general-purpose programming languages.Mappings from five languages (C, Erlang, Haskell, Jason, and Java) to this model.

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Cited By

Sztwiertnia SGrübel MChouchane ASokolowski DNarasimhan KMezini MWang SXie XMa L(2021)Impact of programming languages on machine learning bugsProceedings of the 1st ACM International Workshop on AI and Software Testing/Analysis10.1145/3464968.3468408(9-12)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3464968.3468408
Bordini REl Fallah Seghrouchni AHindriks KLogan BRicci A(2020)Agent programming in the cognitive eraAutonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/s10458-020-09453-y34:2Online publication date: 12-May-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10458-020-09453-y
Kaijanaho ATorlak EStorm TBiddle R(2017)Concept analysis in programming language research: done well it is all rightProceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software10.1145/3133850.3133868(246-259)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3133850.3133868
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cover image Science of Computer Programming

Science of Computer Programming Volume 98, Issue P2

February 2015

201 pages

ISSN:0167-6423

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Copyright © Elsevier B.V.

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Elsevier North-Holland, Inc.

United States

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Published: 01 February 2015

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Cited By

Sztwiertnia SGrübel MChouchane ASokolowski DNarasimhan KMezini MWang SXie XMa L(2021)Impact of programming languages on machine learning bugsProceedings of the 1st ACM International Workshop on AI and Software Testing/Analysis10.1145/3464968.3468408(9-12)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2021
Bordini REl Fallah Seghrouchni AHindriks KLogan BRicci A(2020)Agent programming in the cognitive eraAutonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems10.1007/s10458-020-09453-y34:2Online publication date: 12-May-2020
Kaijanaho ATorlak EStorm TBiddle R(2017)Concept analysis in programming language research: done well it is all rightProceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on New Ideas, New Paradigms, and Reflections on Programming and Software10.1145/3133850.3133868(246-259)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2017
Croatti ARicci AClebsch SDesell THaller PRicci A(2016)An extension of AgentSpeak(L) and Jason tailored to programming and software developmentProceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Programming Based on Actors, Agents, and Decentralized Control10.1145/3001886.3001887(1-10)Online publication date: 30-Oct-2016
Ricci A(2016)Programming with event loops and control loops - From actors to agentsComputer Languages, Systems and Structures10.1016/j.cl.2015.12.00345:C(80-104)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2016
Clebsch SDesell THaller PRicci A(2016)Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Programming Based on Actors, Agents, and Decentralized ControlundefinedOnline publication date: 30-Oct-2016

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