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Exploratory programming
open-in-new
<p>Exploratory programming, as opposed to <a href="/facts/Implementation_(computer_science)/IH1KXgP3">implementation (programming)</a>, is an important part of the <a href="/facts/Software_engineering/KX6cE9kz">software engineering</a> cycle: when a domain is not very well understood or open-ended, or it's not clear what algorithms and data structures might be needed for an implementation, it's useful to be able to interactively develop and debug a program without having to go through the usual constraints of the edit-compile-run-debug cycle. Languages such as <a href="/facts/APL_(programming_language)/E2sb98gC">APL</a>, <a href="/facts/Cecil_(programming_language)/YUGhrhvM">Cecil</a>, <a href="/facts/Clojure_(programming_language)/3JRNxKXx">Clojure</a>, <a href="/facts/C_Sharp_(programming_language)/UC2gxeyb">C#</a>, <a href="/facts/Dylan_(programming_language)/VVQGkShF">Dylan</a>, <a href="/facts/Factor_(programming_language)/oSKmJ26c">Factor</a>, <a href="/facts/Forth_(programming_language)/mYtWVNhF">Forth</a>, <a href="/facts/F_Sharp_(programming_language)/jdXHnYz5">F#</a>, <a href="/facts/J_(programming_language)/EdIVMBj7">J</a>, <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a>, <a href="/facts/Julia_(programming_language)/AoB0PJ9C">Julia</a>, <a href="/facts/Lisp_(programming_language)/xJHA3CrX">Lisp</a>, <a href="/facts/Mathematica/dRwoGFG2">Mathematica</a>, <a href="/facts/Obliq/kjcvNTyB">Obliq</a>, <a href="/facts/Oz_(programming_language)/Fsb7wHsv">Oz</a>, <a href="/facts/Prolog/r5h66Qh1">Prolog</a>, <a href="/facts/Python_(programming_language)/YbuGqofa">Python</a>, <a href="/facts/REBOL/9ooWy78f">REBOL</a>, <a href="/facts/Perl/fx31kjlT">Perl</a>, <a href="/facts/R_(programming_language)/LSrkr8K8">R</a>, <a href="/facts/Ruby_(programming_language)/BeYSaPSR">Ruby</a>, <a href="/facts/Scala_(programming_language)/ebL8o6AK">Scala</a>, <a href="/facts/Self_(programming_language)/sBp39553">Self</a>, <a href="/facts/Smalltalk/Ru2UPVDE">Smalltalk</a>, <a href="/facts/Tcl/s7fbKYtR">Tcl</a>, and <a href="/facts/JavaScript/XhhIIEsl">JavaScript</a>, often in conjunction with an <a href="/facts/Integrated_development_environment/jbEINSQf">IDE</a>, provide support for exploratory programming via interactivity, dynamicity, and extensibility. </p>