Question

What's the difference between object-oriented programming (e.g. java) and functional programming (e.g. python)

Answer 1

one is a top-down approach and the other just opp. i.e bottom-up.In OOP you have objects which are instances of class.
In functional programming you dont have anything called a class or an object , you just have functions.

Hope this answered your question.

Answer 2

python is not only functional, it's multi-paradigm language and it's OOP as-well
and better just google it or look in wikipedia

Answer 3

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/530741/whats-the-difference-between-a-procedural-program-and-an-object-oriented-progra

Answer 4

If by functional programming you meant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_programming (and not procedural) then see this nice thread: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2078978/functional-programming-vs-object-oriented-programming

Answer 5

Also see: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Why_Haskell_matters#Haskell_vs_OOP

Answer 6

object oriented makes reusable classes which can be assembled into other program.....functional programming is just one long program with maybe some comments to tell what a function does......object oriented programs are easier to wrap your head around, update, maintain, and generally cause you less stress as you add more and more features to each version of your program..

--calmchess

Answer 7

object oriented programming is used for end-user applications, whereas functional programming is more commonly used for making scientific applications and operating system functionality.

Answer 8

seanwalsh1984 I disagree with that all programming languages are going the way of Object Oriented even Lisp.........It has just taken 10 years of development of languages to get people on board with object oriented and write all the classes, methods, and datatypes and stuctures into a IDE/API/High Level Language. even the C language which is used to write most O/S now have widely used Object Oriented structures.
--calmchess