Information: - Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is a multi-paradigm, object-oriented programming language, implemented on the .NET Framework. Microsoft launched VB.NET in 2002 as the successor to its original Visual Basic language. Although the ".NET" portion of the name was dropped in 2005, this article uses "Visual Basic [.NET]" to refer to all Visual Basic languages releases since 2002, in order to distinguish between them and the classic Visual Basic. Along with Visual C#, it is one of the two main languages targeting the .NET framework. - In programming languages and type theory, parametric polymorphism is a way to make a language more expressive, while still maintaining full static type-safety. Using parametric polymorphism, a function or a data type can be written generically so that it can handle values "identically" without depending on their type. Such functions and data types are called generic functions and generic datatypes respectively and form the basis of generic programming. - In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is a self-contained sequence of actions to be performed. Algorithms perform calculation, data processing, and/or automated reasoning tasks. - Metaprogramming is the writing of computer programs with the ability to treat programs as their data . It means that a program could be designed to read , generate , analyse or transform other programs , and even modify itself while running . In some cases , this allows programmers to minimize the number of lines of code to express a solution ( hence reducing development time ) , or it gives programs greater flexibility to efficiently handle new situations without recompilation . The language in which the metaprogram is written is called the metalanguage . The language of the programs that are manipulated is called the object language . The ability of a programming language to be its own metalanguage is called reflection or reflexivity . Reflection is a valuable language feature to facilitate metaprogramming . Having the programming language itself as a first - class data type ( as in Lisp , Prolog , SNOBOL , or Rebol ) is also very useful ; this is known as homoiconicity . Generic programming invokes a metaprogramming facility within a language , in those languages supporting it . Metaprogramming usually works in one of three ways . The first way is to expose the internals of the run - time engine to the programming code through application programming interfaces ( APIs ) . The second approach is dynamic execution of expressions that contain programming commands , often composed from strings , but can also be from other methods using arguments or context . Thus , '' programs can write programs . '' Although both approaches can be used in the same language , most languages tend to lean toward one or the other . The third way is to step outside the language entirely . General purpose program transformation systems such as compilers , which accept language descriptions and can carry out arbitrary transformations on those languages , are direct implementations of general metaprogramming . This allows metaprogramming to be applied to virtually any target language without regard to whether that target language has... - Computer programming (often shortened to programming) is a process that leads from an original formulation of a computing problem to executable computer programs. Programming involves activities such as analysis, developing understanding, generating algorithms, verification of requirements of algorithms including their correctness and resources consumption, and implementation (commonly referred to as coding) of algorithms in a target programming language. Source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to find a sequence of instructions that will automate performing a specific task or solving a given problem. The process of programming thus often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms, and formal logic. - C++ (pronounced "cee plus plus") is a general-purpose programming language. It has imperative, object-oriented and generic programming features, while also providing facilities for low-level memory manipulation. - Generic programming is a style of computer programming in which algorithms are written in terms of types "to-be-specified-later" that are then "instantiated" when needed for specific types provided as parameters. This approach, pioneered by ML in 1973, permits writing common functions or types that differ only in the set of types on which they operate when used, thus reducing duplication. Such software entities are known as "generics" in Ada, Delphi, Eiffel, Java, C#, F#, Objective-C, Swift, and Visual Basic .NET; "parametric polymorphism" in ML, Scala, Haskell (the Haskell community also uses the term "generic" for a related but somewhat different concept) and Julia; "templates" in C++ and D; and "parameterized types" in the influential 1994 book "Design Patterns". The authors of "Design Patterns" note that this technique, especially when combined with delegation, is very powerful but also quote the following What is the relationship between 'metaprogramming' and 'computer programming'?
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