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Expression problem

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The Expression Problem is a term used in discussing strengths and weaknesses of various programming paradigms and programming languages. The expression problem can treated as a use case in programming language design.[1] [2] [3]

Philip Wadler coined the term:

The Expression Problem is a new name for an old problem. The goal is

to define a datatype by cases, where one can add new cases to the datatype and new functions over the datatype, without recompiling existing code, and while retaining static type safety (e.g., no

casts).

[4]

The expression problem is also a fundamental problem in multi-dimensional Software Product Line design and in particular as an application (?) or special case(?) of FOSD Program Cubes.

  1. ^ "User-defined types and procedural data structures as complementary approaches to data abstraction".
  2. ^ "Object-Oriented Programming versues Abstract Data Types".
  3. ^ "Synthesizing Object-Oriented and Functional Design to Promote Re-Use".
  4. ^ "The Expression Problem".