High-level language programming paradigms

Programming languages come in many forms or 'paradigms'. Each form of language offers advantages over other types and each one of course has some limitations as well. You need to know the main classes of programming and why you would use one type over another. The main classes of programming languages are low level languages procedural object-orientated languages

Low Level Languages What are ‘Mnemonics’? Mnemonics are used to represent the instruction in a few letters. Give examples of languages: Assembly language, machine code. Give features of low level languages: CPU specific, flags/labels are used to jump from and to parts of the code. What are Pros? Allow close control of the CPU, can be made to run very quickly as can be made very efficient. What are Cons? Can be hard to use as commands can be difficult to learn and remember, a lot of detail needs to be known about the specific CPU, they are not very portable.

Procedural Languages What are the features? Coded using specific commands for the computer to carry out, step by step, one after the other, they can be imperative. Give examples of languages: C, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol. What are Pros? Good for general programming, there are lots of tested coding algorithms already to use, control without having to know details of CPU, it is portable. What are Cons? There are so many so it is difficult to code in more than one, people tend to specialise, it has to be very precise and takes longer to debug than fourth generation, not as efficient as low level languages, poor at handling AI.

Object Orientated Languages What is a class? An entity that hold together all the data and functions. Examples of languages Java and C++. What are Pros? Easier to provide working code as classes can be fully tested and then provided to others in the team to use, other programmers using the class do not need to know how a class works internally, design patterns are available to follow to make coding faster and easier, It is easy to use a class in one programme then re-use it elsewhere, it is portable. What are Cons? Harder to learn, they are very complex and not as compact or efficient as writing code directly In low level language. Give relationship between objects and class: Class is like the blue print before building a house, and the object is the actual building of the house. Classes are software entities whereas objects are an actual instance of the class.

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