History of comuter programming languages

 History of Programming Language

A computer programming language is a set of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute. It is a way of writing instructions that a computer can understand and follow to perform a task or solve a problem. There are many different programming languages, each of which has its own syntax (rules for writing instructions) and semantics (meaning of instructions). Some programming languages are high-level, which means that they are designed to be easy for humans to read and write and are more abstracted from the underlying hardware. Other programming languages are low-level, which means that they are closer to the machine language that the computer can execute directly, and are more efficient for certain tasks, but may be harder for humans to read and write.

Programming languages are used to create a wide range of software applications, including operating systems, web servers, mobile apps, and games. They are also used to write scripts and programs for automating tasks, such as data analysis and machine learning.

The history of computer programming languages dates back to the 1950s when the first computers were developed. At that time, computers were very expensive and were primarily used by governments and large corporations for scientific and military purposes.

The first programming languages were low-level languages, which means that they were closely tied to the hardware of the computer and required the programmer to write instructions in a way that the computer could understand directly. These languages were difficult for humans to read and write and required a lot of time and effort to program even simple tasks.

As computers became more widespread and less expensive, higher-level programming languages were developed that were easier for humans to read and write. These languages were more abstracted from the hardware of the computer and allowed programmers to write instructions using more familiar constructs, such as variables, loops, and conditional statements.

Today, there are many different programming languages in use, each of which is suited to a particular type of task or application. Some programming languages are general-purpose and can be used to write a wide range of applications, while others are specialized and are designed for specific types of tasks, such as web development, scientific computing, or data analysis.

Here is a list of popular programming languages from 1940 to the present:

1940s:

Machine code

Machine code, also known as machine language or assembly language, is the lowest-level programming language that can be executed directly by a computer's central processing unit (CPU). It is the native language of the CPU and consists of a series of binary digits (ones and zeros) that encode specific instructions for the CPU to execute.

 

1950s:

Assembly language

Assembly language is a low-level programming language that is used to write programs that can be run on a computer. It is called assembly language because it is a symbolic representation of the machine code that is used by computers to perform operations.

Assembly language is used to write programs that are typically more efficient and faster than programs written in higher-level languages, such as C or Python, but it is also more difficult to read and write than in those languages. In assembly language, each instruction corresponds to a specific machine code instruction, so it is closer to the underlying hardware of the computer than in higher-level languages.

Assembly language programs are typically written in a text editor and then assembled into machine code using an assembler. The resulting machine code can then be executed by the computer's CPU.

 

1960s:

FORTRAN (1957)

FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) is a programming language that was developed in the 1950s for scientific and engineering applications. It is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language.

FORTRAN is known for its support for numerical calculations and scientific simulations, and it is still used today in fields such as computational physics and data analysis. It has undergone several revisions and updates since it was first developed, with the latest standard being FORTRAN 2018.

 

COBOL (1959)

COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language) is a programming language that was developed in the late 1950s for business applications. It is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language.

COBOL is known for its use in business and government applications, and it was one of the first programming languages to be widely used by corporations. It is designed to be easy to read and write, with a syntax that is based on English words and phrases. This made it popular for use in business applications where readability was important.

COBOL is still in use today, although it has declined in popularity since the rise of other programming languages such as Java and C#. It is used mainly in legacy systems and is often used in conjunction with other languages.

 

Lisp (1958)

Lisp (short for LISt Processing) is a programming language that was first developed in 1958 by John McCarthy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is one of the oldest programming languages still in use today, and it has influenced the development of many other programming languages.

Lisp is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language. It is known for its use of lists as a fundamental data type and for its ability to manipulate those lists, which makes it well-suited for tasks such as artificial intelligence and symbolic computation.

Lisp has a large number of dialects, which are variations of the language that have been developed over the years. Some of the most popular dialects include Common Lisp and Scheme. Lisp is often used in research and education, but it is also used in a variety of other fields.

 

BASIC (1960)

BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a programming language that was developed in the 1960s to make it easy for non-computer scientists to learn and use. It is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language.

BASIC was designed to be easy to learn, with a simple syntax that is based on English words and phrases. It is an interpreted language, which means that it is not compiled into machine code, but rather it is executed directly by an interpreter.

BASIC was one of the first programming languages to be widely used, and it was especially popular in the 1970s and 1980s. It is still used today, although it has declined in popularity compared to other programming languages such as C, C++, and Java.

 

1970s:

C (1972)

C is a general-purpose programming language that was developed in the 1970s by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs. It is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language.

C is known for its efficiency and flexibility, and it is widely used in a variety of applications, including operating systems, computer graphics, and scientific simulations. It is a compiled language, which means that it is converted into machine code by a compiler and can be run directly by the computer's CPU.

C is a popular language for systems programming, as it provides low-level access to the computer's hardware and is able to run on a wide range of platforms. It is also a popular language for learning programming, as it provides a good balance between simplicity and power.

 

Smalltalk (1972)

Smalltalk is an object-oriented programming language that was developed in the 1970s by Alan Kay and his team at Xerox PARC. It is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language.

Smalltalk is known for its use of objects and messages as the fundamental building blocks of programs. In Smalltalk, everything is an object, and objects communicate with each other by sending and receiving messages. This makes it an influential language in the development of other object-oriented languages such as Java and C#.

Smalltalk is an interpreted language, which means that it is not compiled into machine code, but rather it is executed directly by an interpreter. It is used mainly in research and education, although it has also been used in a variety of other applications.

 

Pascal (1972)

Pascal is a high-level programming language that was developed in the 1970s by Niklaus Wirth. It is named after the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal.

Pascal is known for its simplicity and clarity, and it was designed to be easy to learn and use. It is a compiled language, which means that it is converted into machine code by a compiler and can be run directly by the computer's CPU.

Pascal is a structured language, which means that it encourages the use of good programming practices such as modularity and the separation of concerns. It is widely used in education and is also used in a variety of other applications, including scientific simulations and data analysis.

Prolog (1972)

Prolog (short for PROgrammation  LOGique) is a programming language that is based on logic and is used for artificial intelligence and symbolic computation. It was developed in the 1970s by Alain Colmer Auer and Phillipe Roussel.

Prolog is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language. It is known for its use of logical statements and rules to represent knowledge and solve problems.

Prolog is a declarative language, which means that the programmer specifies what needs to be done, rather than how to do it. This allows Prolog to search for solutions to problems by attempting to prove logical statements. Prolog is used mainly in research and education, but it is also used in a variety of other fields.

 

SQL

SQL was first developed at IBM in the 1970s. It was designed as a standard language for working with relational databases, which are a type of database that stores data in tables with rows and columns. The first version of SQL was released in 1974, and the language has undergone several updates and revisions since then. SQL became an ISO(International Organization for Standardization) standard in 1986, and it has since become the most widely used language for working with relational databases. It is used by many popular database management systems, such as MySQL, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server.

1980s:

C++ (1983)

C++ is a programming language that was developed in the 1980s as an extension of the C programming language. It is a high-level language, which means that it is more abstract and easier for humans to read and write than machine code or assembly language.

C++ is known for its efficiency and flexibility, and it is widely used in a variety of applications, including operating systems, computer graphics, and scientific simulations. It is a compiled language, which means that it is converted into machine code by a compiler and can be run directly by the computer's CPU.

C++ is an object-oriented language, which means that it allows the creation and manipulation of objects, as well as the encapsulation of data and functions in those objects. It is a popular language for developing large-scale applications and is used in a wide range of fields, including finance, gaming, and robotics.

 

MATLAB

MATLAB (short for Matrix Laboratory) is a programming language and computing environment that is specifically designed for working with matrices and performing numerical computations. It was developed by Math Works, a company based in Massachusetts, USA. It was first released in 1984, and has been continuously updated and expanded since then. The latest version of MATLAB is R2021a, which was released in March 2021. It is commonly used in a variety of fields, including engineering, science, and finance.

Perl

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose programming language that was first developed in 1987 by Larry Wall. It is a popular language for web development and system administration tasks and is often used for a wide range of tasks, including data manipulation, text processing, and network programming.

One of the key features of Perl is its strong support for text processing, which makes it particularly useful for working with large amounts of data, such as log files and data sets. It also includes a number of built-in functions for working with common data structures, such as arrays and hashes, which can make it easier to write programs that work with complex data. Additionally, Perl has a large and active community of users who have developed and shared a wide range of additional libraries and modules that can be used with the base Perl language.

 

 1990s:

Visual Basic

Visual Basic was first released by Microsoft in 1991. It was created as a more user-friendly version of the programming language BASIC, which stands for Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Microsoft released several versions of Visual Basic over the years, with the most recent being Visual Basic .NET (released in 2002). Visual Basic .NET is an object-oriented programming language that is designed to be used with the .NET Framework, a software framework developed by Microsoft.

 

Python (1991)

Python is a high-level, interpreted programming language that was developed in the late 1980s by Guido van Rossum. It is named after the British comedy group Monty Python.

Python is known for its simplicity and readability, and it is a popular language for beginners to learn. It is also a powerful language that is widely used in a variety of applications, including web development, scientific computing, and data analysis.

Python is an object-oriented language, which means that it allows the creation and manipulation of objects, as well as the encapsulation of data and functions in those objects. It is an interpreted language, which means that it is not compiled into machine code, but rather it is executed directly by an interpreter.

Python has a large and active community of users, and there are many libraries and frameworks available for use with the language. It is used in a wide range of fields, including finance, tech, and scientific research.

 

Java (1995)

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. It is widely used for building enterprise-scale applications, and is known for its "write once, run anywhere" capability, as Java programs can run on any device that has a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed. Java is an object-oriented language, and is widely used for building web, mobile, and desktop applications. It is also used for developing games, and is a popular choice for building Android apps.

 

C# (2000)

C# (pronounced C-sharp) is a programming language developed by Microsoft as part of the .NET initiative in the early 2000s. It is a modern, object-oriented language that is designed to be simple and easy to use, yet powerful enough to build a wide range of applications.

C# is often used to build Windows applications and games, as well as web and mobile applications. It is a statically-typed language, which means that the structure and data types of a program must be specified before the program is compiled. C# is a popular choice for developers who want to build applications that have a strong emphasis on security, performance, and reliability.

 

2000s:

PHP (1995)

PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely used open-source programming language that is especially suited for web development. It is used to build dynamic websites and web applications and can be embedded into HTML.

One of the main benefits of PHP is that it is easy to learn and use, and it has a large developer community that provides support and a wealth of resources. It is also compatible with most web servers and operating systems, and it can be used with many different databases.

PHP is often used in conjunction with other technologies such as MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS to create feature-rich and interactive websites. It is a server-side language, which means that the code is executed on the server rather than in the user's web browser.

 

Ruby (1995)

Ruby is an open source, interpreted programming language. It was created in the mid-1990s by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto in Japan. Ruby is dynamically typed and garbage-collected, and it is designed to be simple, easy to read, and expressive.

Ruby is often used for web development, and it is the language behind the Ruby on Rails web framework. Ruby is also used for building command-line applications, systems automation, and creating prototypes.

Ruby is known for its simplicity and ease of use, and it has a large and supportive developer community. It is a popular language for beginners, and it has a reputation for being a fun and enjoyable language to work with.

 

JavaScript (1995)

JavaScript is a programming language that is commonly used to build interactive web applications. It is an object-oriented language that is used alongside HTML and CSS, and it is an essential part of the web development process.

JavaScript is a client-side language, which means that the code is executed by the user's web browser rather than on the server. This allows web pages to be more dynamic and interactive, as users can perform actions such as filling out forms and clicking buttons without the need to refresh the page.

JavaScript is widely used to build a variety of web-based applications, including single-page apps, mobile apps, and games. It is also used to add interactivity to websites, such as the ability to toggle between content or show notifications. JavaScript has a large and active developer community, and it is constantly evolving with new features and updates.

Scala

Scala is a general-purpose programming language that is designed to be concise and expressive. Scala was first developed by Martin Odersky, a computer scientist at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland. The first version of Scala was released in 2003. It is a statically-typed language, which means that the type of each variable must be specified at compile-time, rather than at runtime. Scala is an object-oriented language, and it also includes support for functional programming constructs, such as higher-order functions and immutable data structures.

 

2010s:

Kotlin (2011)

Kotlin is a statically typed programming language that is concise, expressive, and runs on the Java virtual machine. It was created by JetBrains, the company behind the IntelliJ IDEA Java Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and was first released in 2011.

Kotlin is fully interoperable with Java, which means that you can use Kotlin code alongside Java code in the same project. This makes it easy for Java developers to start using Kotlin, as they can gradually introduce Kotlin into their existing codebase.

Kotlin is a modern, powerful language that is designed to improve upon some of the shortcomings of Java. It is more concise and expressive than Java, which makes it easier to write and maintain. Kotlin is also safer and more reliable than Java, as it has improved type inference and null safety features.

In 2017, Google announced that it would officially support Kotlin as a first-class programming language for Android development. Since then, Kotlin has become increasingly popular for building Android apps, and it is now considered to be a leading alternative to Java for Android development.

 

Go (2009)

Go is a statically typed programming language developed by Google in 2009. It is designed to be simple, efficient, and scalable, and it is widely used for building large-scale systems, network servers, and distributed systems.

Go is an open-source language that is easy to learn and use, and it has a growing developer community. It is known for its fast compile times, efficient memory management, and support for concurrent programming. Go is also popular for its simplicity, as it has a small and easy-to-learn syntax that is easy to read and maintain.

Go is often used to build microservices, command-line tools, and web servers, and it is also used for building distributed systems and large-scale applications. It is a popular choice for developers who want to build fast and efficient systems that are easy to maintain and scale.

 

Rust (2010)

Rust is a systems programming language developed by Mozilla in 2010. It is designed to be a safe and concurrent language that is suitable for building low-level systems, such as operating systems and device drivers.

Rust is known for its focus on safety, as it helps developers avoid common programming mistakes that can lead to security vulnerabilities and stability issues. It is also a highly concurrent language, which means that it is designed to make it easy to write programs that can run multiple tasks at the same time.

Rust is an open-source language that is growing in popularity and has a strong developer community. It is often used for building high-performance applications and is known for its speed and efficiency. Rust is also becoming increasingly popular for building web servers, command-line tools, and systems programming.

 

TypeScript (2012)

TypeScript is a programming language developed and maintained by Microsoft. It is a strict syntactical superset of JavaScript, which means that any valid JavaScript code is also valid TypeScript code.

TypeScript is designed to be a typed superset of JavaScript, which means that it adds optional types to the language. This allows developers to catch type-related errors before their code is executed, which can help to improve the reliability and maintainability of their code.

TypeScript is widely used for building large-scale applications, and it is especially popular for building applications with Angular, a popular JavaScript framework for building web and mobile applications. TypeScript is also used for building applications with React, another popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

TypeScript is an open-source language that is constantly evolving with new features and updates. It has a growing developer community, and it is supported by a wide range of development tools and IDEs.

 

Swift (2014)

Swift is a general-purpose, compiled programming language developed by Apple Inc. for their platforms and Linux. Swift is designed to be easy to read and write, and it is intended to be more concise than Objective-C, the language it replaced.

Swift is a statically typed language, which means that the structure and data types of a program must be specified before it is compiled. It is an object-oriented language, which means that it is based on the concept of objects and the methods and properties associated with those objects.

Swift is widely used for building iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS applications. It is known for its safety, performance, and modern programming features, and it has a growing developer community. Swift is also becoming increasingly popular for building server-side applications, and it is supported by a wide range of development tools and IDEs.

 

2020s:

Julia (2012)

Julia is a high-level, high-performance programming language for technical computing, with syntax that is familiar to users of other technical computing environments. It was developed in 2009 by a team of researchers at MIT, and it is designed to be used for numerical and scientific computing.

Julia is a compiled language, which means that it is translated into machine code that can be executed directly by the computer's hardware. It is known for its speed and efficiency, and it is often used for tasks that require high performance, such as data analysis, machine learning, and simulations.

Julia is an open-source language that is free to use and distribute. It has a growing developer community and is supported by a wide range of development tools and libraries. Julia is used in a variety of industries, including finance, healthcare, and scientific research.

 

Dart (2011)

Dart is a programming language developed by Google in 2011. It is a client-side language that is used to build web, mobile, and desktop applications.

Dart is designed to be easy to learn and use, and it is an object-oriented language with a familiar syntax that is similar to other languages such as Java and C#. It is a statically typed language, which means that the structure and data types of a program must be specified before it is compiled.

Dart is used to build a wide range of applications, including web, mobile, and desktop applications. It is also used to build command-line tools and server-side applications. Dart is often used in conjunction with the Flutter framework, which is a popular choice for building cross-platform mobile applications.

Dart is an open-source language that is supported by a growing developer community, and it is constantly evolving with new features and updates.