Object-Oriented Modeling of Programming Paradigms

For the right application, the use of programming paradigms such as functional or logic programming can enormously increase productivity in software development. But these powerful paradigms are tied to exotic programming languages, while the management of software development dictates standardization on a single language. This dilemma can be resolved by using object-oriented programming in a new way. It is conventional to analyze an application by object-oriented modeling. In the new approach, the analysis identifies the paradigm that is ideal for the application; development starts with object-oriented modeling of the paradigm. In this paper we illustrate the new approach by giving examples of object-oriented modeling of dataflow and constraint programming. These examples suggest that it is no longer necessary to embody a programming paradigm in a language dedicated to it.