What is the Difference Between Reflection and Introspection?

The difference between reflection and introspection lies in their depth and focus. Here are the key distinctions between the two:

1. Focus: Reflection is often focused on examining past experiences and actions, while introspection is centered on analyzing one's own thoughts, feelings, and motivations.
2. Depth: Reflection can be superficial, merely looking at the facts or consequences of an action. In contrast, introspection is deeper and helps in unraveling underlying causes of our own behavior.
3. Purpose: Reflection is a way of looking at and analyzing one's own actions and behaviors, often to weigh the pros and cons of an action or to learn from past experiences. Introspection, on the other hand, is a self-evaluation process that involves looking inward and examining one's thoughts, feelings, and actions and how they affect others.
4. Self-awareness: Both terms refer to self-examination and self-awareness, but they have different meanings. Introspection specifically refers to looking inward and examining one's own thoughts and feelings, while reflective refers to thinking deeply and critically about an experience or situation.

In summary, reflection is a surface-level examination of past experiences and actions, while introspection is a deeper analysis of one's thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

Comparative Table: Reflection vs Introspection

The main difference between reflection and introspection in programming lies in their abilities to examine and modify a program's structure and behavior at runtime. Here is a table summarizing the differences:

In summary, introspection focuses on examining an object's structure, while reflection goes a step further by allowing developers to modify an object's behavior or create new data types at runtime.