Reactive programming is a programming paradigm that focuses on building asynchronous, event-driven applications. In reactive programming, the application responds to changes or events in the system in a reactive manner. Reactive programming is especially useful for building applications that require real-time updates, such as chat applications or stock trading systems.
In reactive programming, the application is broken down into smaller, independent components that communicate with each other through streams of data. These streams of data are like a pipeline, where data is passed through from one component to the next. Each component is responsible for reacting to the data it receives, performing some processing, and passing the results to the next component in the pipeline.
One of the key benefits of reactive programming is that it allows for more efficient use of system resources. Since reactive applications are event-driven, they can be more responsive to changes in the system, which can lead to better performance and a better user experience.
Reactive programming is often associated with reactive extensions (Rx), https://reactivex.io/ , a library that provides a standardized set of APIs for working with reactive streams. Rx is available for many programming languages, including Java, .NET, JavaScript, and Swift.
Overall, reactive programming is a powerful paradigm for building event-driven applications that are more efficient, responsive, and scalable.