Patterns for Assignment and Passing Objects Between Contexts in Programming Languages

ABSTRACT The paper analyses different types of assignment and passing objects to and from functions applied in programming languages. The considered kinds of assignment are described as patterns. The patterns are identified according to their goal and the opportunities they provide to the programmer. The described patterns are the Value Assignment, the Referential Assignment, the Partial Assignment, Destructuring, and Unboxing. The known uses of the patterns describe the relationship between them and the low-level types directly supported by programming languages. The patterns are intended for programming language designers and people interested in how similar approaches are implemented in different languages.