Reactive Programming
Reactive programming centers on data streams and change propagation: dependent values update automatically, and Observables compose asynchronous streams.
Purpose
Manage async and events with declarative data flows, simplifying UI and concurrency.
Mechanism
An Observable represents an asynchronous stream of values. Operators (map/filter/merge/switchMap) compose streams. Subscribing triggers execution. RxJS/RxJava/RxSwift implement it. React has reactive state; Vue has reactive refs.
Use cases
- Async stream processing
- UI state management
- Event composition