Describe the differences between procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming paradigms.
Sample solution
Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell.
In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.
God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.
Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.
To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.
References
Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.
Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.
Sample Answer
Differences between Procedural, Object-Oriented, and Functional Programming Paradigms
Sample Answer
Differences between Procedural, Object-Oriented, and Functional Programming Paradigms
Differences between Procedural, Object-Oriented, and Functional Programming Paradigms
Introduction
Programming paradigms provide different approaches to structuring and organizing code. Procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming are three widely used paradigms. This essay will explore the key differences between these paradigms.
Procedural Programming
Procedural programming is a programming paradigm that focuses on procedures or routines. In procedural programming:
Code is organized into procedures or functions that perform specific tasks.
Data and functions are separate entities, with functions manipulating data through procedural calls.
The program flow is controlled using control structures like loops and conditional statements.
Procedural programming is often characterized by a top-down approach, where the program is divided into smaller procedures that are executed in sequence.
Modularity is achieved by dividing the program into reusable functions.
Examples of procedural programming languages include C, Pascal, and Fortran.
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm that focuses on objects and their interactions. In OOP:
Objects are the central entities, representing real-world entities, concepts, or abstract data structures.
Objects encapsulate data and behavior together in classes, which serve as blueprints for creating objects.
The program structure consists of classes, objects, and their relationships (inheritance, composition, etc.).
OOP emphasizes concepts like encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, and abstraction.
Programs are organized around objects that interact with each other through method calls and message passing.
OOP promotes code reusability, modularity, and extensibility.
Examples of object-oriented programming languages include Java, C++, Python, and Ruby.
Functional Programming
Functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions. In functional programming:
Functions are the central entities, representing mathematical functions that take inputs and produce outputs without modifying external state.
Functions are first-class citizens, meaning they can be assigned to variables, passed as arguments, and returned as values.
Functional programming promotes immutability, avoiding side effects and mutable state.
Programs are constructed by composing higher-order functions and performing function transformations like currying or partial application.
Recursion is often used as a primary control structure instead of loops.
Functional programming emphasizes declarative style rather than imperative instructions.
Examples of functional programming languages include Haskell, Lisp, Erlang, and Scala.
Key Differences
Data and Control Flow: Procedural programming separates data and functions, focusing on sequential execution. Object-oriented programming organizes code around objects that encapsulate data and behavior. Functional programming treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions, emphasizing immutability and avoiding mutable state.
Modularity: Procedural programming achieves modularity through dividing code into reusable procedures. Object-oriented programming achieves modularity through encapsulating data and behavior within classes. Functional programming achieves modularity through composing pure functions.
State Handling: Procedural programming often relies on mutable state changes. Object-oriented programming uses encapsulation to manage state within objects. Functional programming promotes immutability and avoids mutable state.
Control Structures: Procedural programming relies on control structures like loops and conditional statements. Object-oriented programming uses method calls and message passing for control flow. Functional programming often uses recursion as a primary control structure.
Code Organization: Procedural programming often follows a top-down approach, dividing the program into smaller procedures executed in sequence. Object-oriented programming organizes code around objects and their relationships. Functional programming focuses on composing higher-order functions.
Focus: Procedural programming focuses on procedures and how to perform tasks. Object-oriented programming focuses on modeling real-world entities through objects. Functional programming focuses on mathematical functions and computation.
Conclusion
Procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming paradigms offer distinct approaches to structuring code and solving problems. Procedural programming emphasizes procedures and control structures. Object-oriented programming focuses on objects and their interactions. Functional programming revolves around mathematical functions and immutability. Understanding the differences between these paradigms helps programmers choose the most appropriate approach based on the requirements of their projects.
