What is the fundamental principle of reactive programming?

The fundamental principle of reactive programming is best captured by the concept of combining concurrency with event-driven and asynchronous systems. Reactive programming provides a way to compose asynchronous and event-driven systems using streams of data, allowing for more efficient handling of events as they occur, rather than waiting for tasks to complete in a blocking manner.

This approach enables systems to remain responsive and flexible, as they can react to changes in data state or incoming events without causing delays in execution. By utilizing non-blocking I/O and asynchronous processing, reactive programming can manage multiple operations concurrently, effectively improving performance and resource utilization in applications.

In contrast to other approaches that emphasize blocking execution or sequential handling of tasks, reactive programming focuses on building systems that react to events and changes dynamically, showcasing its powerful capabilities in modern software architectures.