What is a multi-paradigm language?

Question

The question title already sums up everything I want to know. Visual Basic . NET, C#, Boo, C++ are multi-paradigm languages. What is a paradigm? And a multi-paradigm language?

Answer 1

I’ve already answered the paradigm of two opportunities: What is a paradigm? and in question where it had a specific context.

The term already answers everything :P They are languages that support more than one paradigm with specific mechanisms.

I think you can say that all modern, popular, general-purpose languages are multi-paradigm. This is fundamental for language to succeed. When the language proposes to go beyond a specific niche it needs to have several ways to solve problems, because it will deal with various problems.

Essentially every language is imperative. Object orientation is fashionable and almost every language adopts it. Languages do not dispense at least some functional features and every day more languages are adding mechanisms of this paradigm, it happens with C++, Java, C#, Python, etc.

Paradigms

Some adopt a more procedural and modular, or at least allows its use, but today there is a preference for OO, although often the difference is small and questionable (in the sense that there is no consensus of what OO is) when using one or the other.

Some opt for other auxiliary paradigms to meet some more specific needs. This occurs with events, aspects, competition or reflexivity, for example. I could even put contracts also. There are controversies if it is they are paradigms (I speak of this in the first link up there).

Other paradigms are needed to suit your basic philosophy. Language really typed do not exist without genericity, meta-programming or some similar form.

Some have adopted a style more declarative, which opposes the imperative, at least for some kind of task.

To Wikipedia has a comparison. It is not 100% reliable (I am being cool), has subjectivity and the table is not well cured, but it helps to have an idea.

Other information

Languages can at least simulate a paradigm with libraries and usage patterns. This alone cannot classify the language as multi paradigm.

Some languages use the term highlighted and primarily as marketing. Some go in the opposite direction and choose to address a type of problem well.

If you search here or follow the Wikipedia article (it’s full of links optimal at least for introduction) will know more about several other paradigms that I would call auxiliary.