Exploring Parafunctional Programming: Separating the What from the How

  • Authors:
  • Paul Hudak

  • Affiliations:
  • -

  • Venue:
  • IEEE Software
  • Year:
  • 1988

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Abstract

A method is presented that takes functional programming one step further by letting the programmer change operational (parafunctional) details without restructuring or rewriting the program. Parafunctional programming is based on the premise that the what (specification) and the how (implementation) are separately identifiable and maintainable system components. Unlike conventional programming methods, parafunctional programming maintains this separation by metalinguistic constructs in the source language and a programming environment that supports structured editing and high-level debugging.