How languages evolved in 50 years.
Evolution of languages in 50 years.
In 1949, Assembly Language was first widely used in the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, assembly language is a type of low-level computer programming language that simplifies the language of machine code, the specific instructions needed to tell the computer what to do.
In 1952, Autocode was a generic term for a family of early computer programming languages. Some consider Autocode to be the first compiled computer programming language, meaning that it can be translated directly into machine code using a program called a compiler.
In 1957, Fortran was created by John Backus for complicated scientific, mathematical, and statistical work. Fortran stands for Formula Translation, and it is one of the oldest computer programming languages still used today.
In 1970, Pascal was developed by Niklaus Wirth. Pascal was named in honor of the French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is easy to learn and was originally created as a tool for teaching computer programming.
In 1972, Smalltalk was developed by Alan Kay, Adele Goldberg, and Dan Ingalls at Xerox. Smalltalk allowed computer programmers to modify code on the fly and also introduced other aspects now present in common computer programming languages including Python, Java, and Ruby.
In 1972, C was developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs. C is considered by many to be the first high-level language. A high-level computer programming language is closer to human language and more removed from the machine code.
C was created so that an operating system called Unix could be used on many different types of computers. It has influenced many other languages, including Ruby, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, and Python.
In 1972, SQL was developed by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce at IBM. SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is used for viewing and changing information that is stored in databases. SQL uses command sentences called queries to add, remove, or view data.
In 1978, MATLAB was developed by Cleve Moler. MATLAB stands for Matrix Laboratory. It is one of the best computer programming languages for writing mathematical programs and is mainly used in mathematics, research, and education.
In 1983, Objective-C was created by Brad Cox and Tom Love. Objective-C is the main computer programming language used when writing software for macOS and iOS, Apple’s operating systems.
In 1983, C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C language. It is one of the most widely used languages in the world. C++ is used in game engines and high-performance software like Adobe Photoshop. Most packaged software is still written in C++.
In 1987, Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall as a scripting language designed for text editing. Its purpose was to make report processing easier. It is now widely used for many purposes, including Linux system administration, Web development, and network programming.
Reference source: https://cs.brown.edu/~adf/programming_languages.html
The new languages in the early 90s.
In 1990, Haskell was developed by Haskell Brooks Curry, an American logician and mathematician. Haskell is called a purely functional computer programming language, which basically means that it is mostly mathematical.
In 1991, Python was designed by Guido Van Rossum, easier to read and requires fewer lines of code than many other computer programming languages. It was named after the British comedy group Monty Python.
In 1991, Visual Basic was developed by Microsoft, and allows programmers to choose and change pre-selected chunks of code in a drag-and-drop fashion through a graphical user interface (GUI).
In 1993, R was developed by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman at the University of Auckland. R is named after the first names of the first two authors. It is mostly used by statisticians and those performing different types of data analysis.
In 1995, Java was originally called Oak, Java was developed by Sun Microsystems. It was intended for cable boxes and hand-held devices but was later enhanced so it could be used to deliver information on the World Wide Web.
In 1995, PHP was created by Rasmus Lerdorf, is used mostly for Web development and is usually run on Web servers. It originally stood for Personal Home Page, as it was used by Lerdorf to manage his own online information.
In 1995, Ruby was created by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, who combined parts of his favorite languages to form a new general-purpose computer programming language that can perform many programming tasks.
And finally, in December 1995, JavaScript was created in just 10 days by Brendan Eich. JavaScript is considered to be an ideal programming language if the objective is to create dynamic web elements such as animated graphics, interactive maps, etc. As this language is extensively used in web development, building web servers, game development, we will learn how much scope it beholds.
Modern Languages after the 2000s.
The 2000s were a transformative decade for the world of programming with the emergence of new languages such as C#, Python, and PHP. The advent of the internet and web development also saw a renewed interest in languages like JavaScript and Perl.
The 2010s saw the continued growth and maturation of many popular programming languages such as Java, Python, and JavaScript, and their impact on the field of computer science. Additionally, new languages like Scala, Swift, and TypeScript emerged in the scene.
With the advent of new technologies that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning, we can expect to see the continued development and widespread adoption of these technologies, including Python and R. New languages such as Go, Rust, and Kotlin have been gaining popularity.
Most computer programming languages were inspired by or built upon concepts from previous computer programming languages. Today, while older languages still serve as a strong foundation for new ones, newer computer programming languages make programmers’ work simpler.