Introduction to Programming Paradigms
This course introduces the fundamental programming paradigms that shape how software is designed, structured, and implemented. You will learn how different paradigms approach problem-solving, data organization, and behavior, and when to choose each paradigm in real-world software development. The course builds a clear mental model that connects paradigms to languages, architectures, and practical applications.
Course Outline
- Introduction to Programming Paradigms
- What is a programming paradigm?
- Why paradigms matter in software engineering
- Paradigms vs languages vs frameworks
- Imperative & Procedural Paradigm
- State, control flow, and instructions
- Functions and procedures
- Real-world use cases
- Object-Oriented Paradigm (OOP)
- Objects, classes, and encapsulation
- Inheritance and polymorphism
- Modeling real-world systems
- Functional Programming Paradigm
- Pure functions and immutability
- Higher-order functions
- Benefits for concurrency and reliability
- Declarative Programming Paradigm
- Describing what instead of how
- Logic and rule-based programming
- Query and configuration examples
- Event-Driven & Reactive Paradigms
- Events, listeners, and callbacks
- Reactive streams and data flow
- UI and real-time systems
- Concurrent & Parallel Programming Paradigms
- Threads, processes, and async models
- Shared vs message-based concurrency
- Performance and scalability concerns
- Domain-Specific & Specialized Paradigms
- Scripting paradigms
- Data-oriented and pipeline-based paradigms
- Game, graphics, and network programming perspectives
- Multi-Paradigm Languages
- How modern languages combine paradigms
- Choosing the right paradigm for a problem
- Paradigms in Real Software Systems
- Paradigm selection in system design
- Trade-offs and best practices
- Case studies and comparisons
