Programming idioms

In computer programming, a programming idiom, code idiom or simply idiom is a code fragment having a semantic role which recurs frequently across software projects. It often expresses a special feature of a recurring construct in one or more programming languages, frameworks or libraries. This definition is rooted in the linguistic definition of "idiom".

The idiom can be seen by developers as an action on a programming concept underlying a pattern in code, which is represented in implementation by contiguous or scattered code snippets. Generally speaking, a programming idiom's semantic role is a natural language expression of a simple task, algorithm, or data structure that is not a built-in feature in the programming language being used, or, conversely, the use of an unusual or notable feature that ''is'' built into a programming language.

Knowing the idioms associated with a programming language and how to use them is an important part of gaining fluency in that language. It also helps to transfer knowledge in the form of analogies from one language or framework to another. Such idiomatic knowledge is widely used in crowdsourced repositories to help developers overcome programming barriers.

Mapping code idioms to idiosyncrasies can be a helpful way to navigate the tradeoffs between generalization and specificity. By identifying common patterns and idioms, developers can create mental models and schemata that help them quickly understand and navigate new code. Furthermore, by mapping these idioms to idiosyncrasies and specific use cases, developers can ensure that they are applying the correct approach and not overgeneralizing it.
One way to do this is by creating a reference or documentation that maps common idioms to specific use cases, highlighting where they may need to be adapted or modified to fit a particular project or development team. This can help ensure that developers are working with a shared understanding of best practices and can make informed decisions about when to use established idioms and when to adapt them to fit their specific needs.

A common misconception is to use the adverbial or adjectival form of the term as "using a programming language in a typical way", which really refers to a idiosyncrasy. An idiom implies the semantics of some code in a programming language has similarities to other languages or frameworks. For example, an ''idiosyncratic'' way to manage dynamic memory in C would be to use the C standard library functions malloc and free, whereas ''idiomatic'' refers to manual memory management as recurring semantic role that can be achieved with code fragments malloc in C, or pointer = new type umber_of_elements/code> in C++. In both cases, the semantics of the code are intelligible to developers familiar with C or C++, once the idiomatic or idiosyncratic rationale is exposed to them. However, while idiomatic rationale is often general to the programming domain, idiosyncratic rationale is frequently tied to specific API terminology.


Examples

Printing Hello World

One of the most common starting points to learn to program or notice the syntax differences between a known language and a new one.

It has several implementations, among them the code fragments for C++:

std::cout << "Hello World\n";


For Java:

System.out.println("Hello World");



Inserting an element in an array

This idiom helps developers understand how to manipulate collections in a given language, particularly inserting an element x at a position i in a list s and moving the elements to its right.

Code fragments:

For Python:

s.insert(i, x)

For JavaScript:

s.splice(i, 0, x);

For Perl:

splice(@s, $i, 0, $x)

See also

* Algorithmic skeleton
* Embedded SQL
* Idiom

References

External links

programming-idioms.org
shows short idioms implementations in most mainstream languages.

C++ programming idioms
from Wikibooks.

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