🧭 Programming Philosophies Explained (How to Think Like a Polyglot Developer)

“Everything is an Object” vs “Everything is a Function” vs “Everything is a Form” vs “Everything is a Process”

Different programming languages have different core philosophies — the “unit” of how they express and structure logic.

This guide breaks down the major paradigms and how popular languages interpret them.

🩷 Ruby / Ruby on Rails — Object-Oriented Elegance

🧩 Core Philosophy:

Everything is an object — even classes, numbers, and booleans.

Ruby was designed for human happiness: elegant syntax, minimal ceremony, maximum expressiveness.

💡 Example:

class BankAccount
  attr_accessor :balance

  def initialize(balance = 0)
    @balance = balance
  end

  def deposit(amount)
    @balance += amount
  end
end

account = BankAccount.new(100)
account.deposit(50)
puts account.balance  # 150

Rails builds on this idea:

• Models = classes describing data.
• Controllers = classes describing logic.
• Everything is a class instance that sends messages (methods) to each other.

💙 JavaScript / React — The Function + Object Hybrid

🧩 Core Philosophy:

Functions are first-class citizens.

Objects are dynamic structures.

React components are functions returning UI (JSX).

💡 Example:

function BankAccount({ startingBalance }) {
  const [balance, setBalance] = useState(startingBalance);

  function deposit(amount) {
    setBalance(balance + amount);
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <h3>Balance: ${balance}</h3>
      <button onClick={() => deposit(10)}>Deposit $10</button>
    </div>
  );
}

• Functions encapsulate behavior.
• UI is a function of state (UI = f(state)).
• Data flows downward through props; actions flow upward through events.

💚 Python / Django — Object-Oriented with Functional Tendencies

🧩 Core Philosophy:

Everything is an object.

Functions, classes, and modules all have types and can be passed around.

💡 Example:

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self, balance=0):
        self.balance = balance

    def deposit(self, amount):
        self.balance += amount

account = BankAccount(100)
account.deposit(50)
print(account.balance)  # 150

Python’s flexibility allows both styles:

def deposit(balance, amount): return balance + amount

• OOP for modeling systems, functions for utilities.
• Django mirrors Rails with models, views, forms — all classes.

☕ Java — Strictly Class-Based

🧩 Core Philosophy:

Everything must live inside a class.

Even the main entry point.

💡 Example:

public class BankAccount {
  private double balance;

  public BankAccount(double balance) {
    this.balance = balance;
  }

  public void deposit(double amount) {
    this.balance += amount;
  }

  public double getBalance() {
    return balance;
  }
}

• Strong typing, encapsulation, inheritance.
• Forces you to think in terms of blueprints and instances.

🩶 C++ — Procedural + Object-Oriented Hybrid

🧩 Core Philosophy:

You can program procedurally (C-style) or with objects.

You decide how “structured” to make it.

💡 Example:

Procedural style:

double deposit(double balance, double amount) {
    return balance + amount;
}

OOP style:

class BankAccount {
public:
    double balance;
    void deposit(double amount) { balance += amount; }
};

C++ bridges low-level control and high-level abstractions — a “choose-your-own-adventure” language.

🧡 C (Pure Procedural Example)

🧩 Core Philosophy:

Code runs top-down as procedures (functions) operating on data structures.

💡 Example:

#include <stdio.h>

struct BankAccount {
    double balance;
};

void deposit(struct BankAccount *account, double amount) {
    account->balance += amount;
}

int main() {
    struct BankAccount account = {100.0};
    deposit(&account, 50.0);
    printf("Balance: %.2f\n", account.balance);
}

• No classes, no inheritance.
• Data and behavior are separate — functions act on data, not inside it.
• Foundation for most modern languages.

💜 Elixir — Functional, Immutable, Message-Passing

🧩 Core Philosophy:

Everything is a function transforming data.

No mutable state — data is immutable.

💡 Example:

defmodule BankAccount do
  def deposit(balance, amount), do: balance + amount
end

balance = 100
new_balance = BankAccount.deposit(balance, 50)
IO.puts(new_balance) # 150

• Data flows through pure functions.
• State is never changed, only transformed.
• Concurrency built on processes that send messages.

💜 Haskell — Pure Functional Programming

🧩 Core Philosophy:

Everything is a pure function.

No side effects, no mutable state, everything has a type.

💡 Example:

deposit :: Double -> Double -> Double
deposit balance amount = balance + amount

main = print (deposit 100 50)

• No loops — only recursion and higher-order functions.
• Type system ensures correctness before running.
• “Functions all the way down.”

🧠 Summary Table

🎯 How to Think Like a Polyglot Developer

🧭 Final Takeaway

• Procedural → Control and clarity.
• OOP → Modeling and abstraction.
• Functional → Transformation and immutability.
• Modern Web (React, Rails, Django) → Combine the best of all worlds.

🧩 Learn the mindset, not just the syntax.

Once you understand how different languages “see the world,” you can learn any of them with ease.