Nominal type systemIn computer science, a type system is nominal, nominative, or name-based if compatibility and equivalence of data types is determined by explicit declarations and/or the name of the types. Nominal systems are used to determine if types are equivalent, as well as if a type is a subtype of another. Nominal type systems contrast with structural systems, where comparisons are based on the structure of the types in question and do not require explicit declarations.
Prototype-based programmingPrototype-based programming is a style of object-oriented programming in which behaviour reuse (known as inheritance) is performed via a process of reusing existing objects that serve as prototypes. This model can also be known as prototypal, prototype-oriented, classless, or instance-based programming. Prototype-based programming uses the process generalized objects, which can then be cloned and extended. Using fruit as an example, a "fruit" object would represent the properties and functionality of fruit in general.
Substructural type systemSubstructural type systems are a family of type systems analogous to substructural logics where one or more of the structural rules are absent or only allowed under controlled circumstances. Such systems are useful for constraining access to system resources such as , locks, and memory by keeping track of changes of state that occur and preventing invalid states. Several type systems have emerged by discarding some of the structural rules of exchange, weakening, and contraction: Ordered type systems (discard exchange, weakening and contraction): Every variable is used exactly once in the order it was introduced.
Third-generation programming languageA third-generation programming language (3GL) is a high-level computer programming language that tends to be more machine-independent and programmer-friendly than the machine code of the first-generation and assembly languages of the second-generation, while having a less specific focus to the fourth and fifth generations. Examples of common and historical third-generation programming languages are ALGOL, BASIC, C, COBOL, Fortran, Java, and Pascal. 3GLs are much more machine-independent and more programmer-friendly.
D (programming language)D, also known as dlang, is a multi-paradigm system programming language created by Walter Bright at Digital Mars and released in 2001. Andrei Alexandrescu joined the design and development effort in 2007. Though it originated as a re-engineering of C++, D is a profoundly different language —features of D can be considered streamlined and expanded-upon ideas from C++, however D also draws inspiration from other high-level programming languages, notably Java, Python, Ruby, C#, and Eiffel.
Lambda calculusLambda calculus (also written as λ-calculus) is a formal system in mathematical logic for expressing computation based on function abstraction and application using variable binding and substitution. It is a universal model of computation that can be used to simulate any Turing machine. It was introduced by the mathematician Alonzo Church in the 1930s as part of his research into the foundations of mathematics. Lambda calculus consists of constructing lambda terms and performing reduction operations on them.
Class (computer programming)In object-oriented programming, a class is an extensible program-code-template for creating objects, providing initial values for state (member variables) and implementations of behavior (member functions or methods). In many languages, the class name is used as the name for the class (the template itself), the name for the default constructor of the class (a subroutine that creates objects), and as the type of objects generated by instantiating the class; these distinct concepts are easily conflated.
Object (computer science)In computer science, an object can be a variable, a data structure, a function, or a method. As regions of memory, objects contain a value and are referenced by identifiers. In the object-oriented programming paradigm, an object can be a combination of variables, functions, and data structures; in particular in class-based variations of the paradigm, an object refers to a particular instance of a class. In the relational model of database management, an object can be a table or column, or an association between data and a database entity (such as relating a person's age to a specific person).
Covariance and contravariance (computer science)Many programming language type systems support subtyping. For instance, if the type is a subtype of , then an expression of type should be substitutable wherever an expression of type is used. Variance is how subtyping between more complex types relates to subtyping between their components. For example, how should a list of s relate to a list of s? Or how should a function that returns relate to a function that returns ? Depending on the variance of the type constructor, the subtyping relation of the simple types may be either preserved, reversed, or ignored for the respective complex types.
Pure type systemNOTOC In the branches of mathematical logic known as proof theory and type theory, a pure type system (PTS), previously known as a generalized type system (GTS), is a form of typed lambda calculus that allows an arbitrary number of sorts and dependencies between any of these. The framework can be seen as a generalisation of Barendregt's lambda cube, in the sense that all corners of the cube can be represented as instances of a PTS with just two sorts. In fact, Barendregt (1991) framed his cube in this setting.
