Imperative Programming Languages vs.
Non-Imperative Programming Languages
Imperative Programming Languages:
Imperative programming is a paradigm where you describe how to achieve a desired result by
writing a sequence of statements that change a program's state. The program consists of
commands that specify actions to be taken in order to solve a problem. The focus is on
control flow, and you often work directly with variables, loops, conditionals, and function
calls (Sommerville, 2011).
Examples of Imperative Languages:
C: This language allows direct manipulation of memory and system resources,
making it a classic example of an imperative language. You specify exactly what
should happen and in what order (Kernighan & Ritchie, 1988).
Java: A widely used language that follows an imperative style, especially in its
handling of object-oriented principles, method calls, and explicit control structures
(Bloch, 2008).
Python: Though it supports multiple programming paradigms, its default style is
imperative, where you explicitly define the steps for computation (Lutz, 2013).
Non-Imperative Programming Languages:
Non-imperative programming focuses on describing what the result should be, rather than
how to achieve it. These languages generally don't require you to specify every step of the
computation but instead allow you to focus on the end goal. This includes declarative
paradigms like functional and logic programming, where you focus more on the relationships
between data, and the underlying runtime system determines how to compute the result
(Henderson & Henderson, 1993).
Examples of Non-Imperative Languages:
Haskell: A pure functional programming language, where you define the problem in
terms of mathematical functions without specifying the exact sequence of steps
(Peyton Jones, 2003).
SQL: A domain-specific language used for querying databases. Instead of describing
how to fetch data, you declare what data you want from the database, and the system
figures out the most efficient way to retrieve it (Date, 2004).
Prolog: A logic programming language that allows you to define a set of rules and
relationships and then query the system to derive conclusions based on those rules
(Sterling & Shapiro, 1994).
Use Cases for Imperative and Non-Imperative Languages:
Imperative Language (Example: C): Consider a situation where you need to write software
to control an embedded system like a microcontroller that controls the heating system of a
house. In this case, you would use an imperative language like C, because you need precise
control over the hardware. You will need to write explicit steps to turn on the heater when the
temperature falls below a certain threshold, check sensor values, and take action based on
those values. C allows for efficient manipulation of hardware resources and a direct approach
to managing the control flow, which makes it ideal for performance-critical tasks like these
(Kernighan & Ritchie, 1988).
Non-Imperative Language (Example: Haskell): On the other hand, consider a project
where you're implementing a web service for natural language processing (NLP) that
performs tasks like text summarization or sentiment analysis. A non-imperative language
like Haskell would be ideal for the functional nature of the problem. Haskell excels at
working with complex mathematical computations and immutable data, which aligns well
with the functional paradigm required for tasks like NLP, where you want to avoid mutable
states and focus on declarative transformations of input data. The language’s emphasis on
higher-order functions and its purity makes it a good fit for abstracting away low-level details
and focusing on the logic of the application (Peyton Jones, 2003).
Conclusion:
In summary, imperative languages like C are excellent for cases where you need fine-grained
control over the flow of execution and resources, especially for tasks related to systems
programming, embedded systems, and performance-critical applications (Kernighan &
Ritchie, 1988). On the other hand, non-imperative languages like Haskell or SQL shine in
situations where you're focusing on declarative problem-solving, such as in higher-level
computations, logic-based problems, or querying large datasets, where how to achieve the
result is less important than what the result should be (Peyton Jones, 2003; Date, 2004).
References:
Bloch, J. (2008). Effective Java (2nd ed.). Addison-Wesley.
Date, C. J. (2004). An Introduction to Database Systems (8th ed.). Addison-Wesley.
Henderson, P., & Henderson, R. (1993). Declarative Programming: A Functional
Programming Approach. Prentice Hall.
Kernighan, B. W., & Ritchie, D. M. (1988). The C Programming Language (2nd ed.).
Prentice Hall.
Lutz, M. (2013). Learning Python (5th ed.). O'Reilly Media.
Peyton Jones, S. L. (2003). Haskell 98: A Non-strict, Purely Functional Language.
Cambridge University Press.
Sterling, L., & Shapiro, E. (1994). The Art of Prolog: Advanced Programming
Techniques (2nd ed.). MIT Press.
