Programming Languages

 

The Evolution of Code: A Detailed History of Programming
Languages

Imagine a world without apps, websites, or even ATMs. That was reality before programming languages took over. From Ada Lovelace's first algorithm to today's AI-driven code, it has been quite a ride! Let's jump into the amazing story of how programming languages have changed over time.

Programming languages have really taken off, growing from simple tools to powerful systems we use every day. This growth was powered by a real need for tools that were simple to use, efficient and specialized for our growing digital world.

The Pioneers: Early Programming Languages (1883-1959)

Get ready to meet the groundbreaking languages that made modern programming possible. They built the first steps!

Ada Lovelace and the Analytical Engine (1883)

Ada Lovelace was a math whiz back in the 1800s. It wasn't common for women to study math, but she was amazing. She created an algorithm for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. This machine was one of the first computers. Her algorithm helped it compute tricky math problems called Bernoulli numbers. People call Lovelace the "princess of parallelograms" due to her math skills. Her work is known as the first computer programming language.

Assembly Language (1949) and Autocode (1952)

Fast forward a bit, and we see Assembly Language. This language is closely tied to machine code. It tells the computer exactly what to do. Then, Autocode appeared. It wasn't just one language, but a group of early programming languages. Alec Glenny created the first one for the Manchester Mark 1 computer. The Autocode used a compiler, which translates human-readable code into machine code.

EDSAC, a calculator made by Maurice Wilkes, used Assembly Language. It helped solve equations and discovered a prime number with 79 digits. That was huge back then!

FORTRAN, ALGOL, and COBOL (1957-1959)

Now we're cooking! In 1957, FORTRAN came on the scene. IBM made it for complicated math stuff. The name FORTRAN stands for formula translation. It helped benchmark the fastest supercomputers. Today, they still use FORTRAN.

One year later, ALGOL was created. ALGOL, short for algorithmic language, inspired other languages. Think Pascal, C, C++, and Java. Most modern languages got their syntax from ALGOL. Plus, ALGOL was the first language to use code blocks with "begin" and "end" markers. It also used nested function definitions.

Then, in 1959, COBOL arrived. Grace Murray Hopper developed COBOL. It was made to run on different computers. COBOL stands for common business-oriented language. You'll find it in ATMs, phone systems, and business systems. COBOL even showed up in the Terminator movie's vision display. Many mainframe computers use COBOL for older apps even today.

The Rise of High-Level Languages (1959-1978)

It was time for programming to become more user-friendly and simple. The following are the languages that played the biggest roles.

Lisp (1959) and BASIC (1964)

In 1959, Lisp was developed at MIT. Lisp means list processing language. It's the second oldest high-level language after FORTRAN. Lists are a key part of Lisp, and Lisp code is made up of lists. During that period, it was popular for artificial intelligence.

In 1964, BASIC was created by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College. BASIC stands for beginner's all-purpose symbolic instruction code. As the name suggests, it was for students without a math background, allowing them to use computers. Later, in 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen changed BASIC, and it became one of Microsoft's first products.

Pascal (1970) and Smalltalk (1972)

Pascal, named after Blaise Pascal, came to be in 1970. Nicolaus Wirth developed it. Compared to earlier languages, Pascal was easier to pick up. It was popular for teaching computer programming. The language encouraged good programming habits. Apple even used Pascal in their early software.

In 1972, Smalltalk came about. Alan Kay, Adele Goldberg, and Dan Ingalls at Xerox created it. What made it special? It let programmers change code while the program was running. Its primary purpose was teaching. It inspired features in newer languages like Python. In 2017, Smalltalk was the second most loved language on a Stack Overflow survey.

C and SQL (1972)

Also in 1972, C was created at Bell Labs by Dennis Ritchie. Even though prior languages were considered high-level, C was the first truly high-level one. "High-level" means it's closer to human language than machine code. UNIX could run on different computers due to the development of C. Many future languages were inspired by C. In the 1980s, it gained popularity. C is still one of the most popular languages and is often taught in computer science courses.

In addition to C, SQL was also created in 1972. Donald Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce at IBM developed SQL. SQL stands for structured query language. It is a language for working with databases and is still used today.

MATLAB (1978)

Created in 1978 by Cleve Moler, MATLAB is short for matrix laboratory. It's considered one of the best languages for advanced math. Students and researchers use MATLAB for matrix calculations.

Object-Oriented Programming and Beyond (1983-1995)

Now we explore object-oriented programming. This changed how programs were put together.

Objective-C and C++ (1983)

In 1983, Objective-C showed up, created by Brad Cox and Tom Love. Objective-C mixes Smalltalk's messaging style with the C language. Until Swift came along in 2014, Objective-C was the main language for Apple's Mac OS and iOS.

C++ also came about in 1983. Bjarne Stroustrup at Bell Labs developed it. They also know it as "C with classes". It was made for system programming, adding more high-level features. Today, C++ is popular and used in software like Adobe Photoshop and Minecraft. New C++ versions still come out every three years.

Perl, Haskell, Python, Visual Basic (1987-1991)

Perl showed up in 1987. Larry Wall created it as a scripting language for text editing. Perl borrows features from C, Basic, and Lisp. Linux system administration, web development, and network programming commonly use Perl.

Then, in 1990, Haskell was created, named after Haskell Brooks Curry. It's mainly a math-focused programming language. Haskell innovated with type classes, type inference, and lazy evaluation.

In 1991, Python came to be. Guido van Rossum designed it. Python is easy to read and requires less code than other languages. Python is named after Monty Python. It's known for making programmers feel lazy because it is useful and easy to read. Data science often uses Python.

Also in 1991, Visual Basic was created by Microsoft. Visual Basic lets users drag and drop code in a graphical interface. It was made to be simple. In 2016, Visual Basic 6.0 won a technical impact award at the DICE Awards.

R, Java, PHP, Ruby, and JavaScript (1993-1995)

In 1993, the programming language R was created at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman developed R. Statisticians and data scientists use R for data analysis and making stats software. In January 2020, R was the 18th most popular language.

1995 was a busy year for programming languages. Java was created by Sun Microsystems. They often teach it for object-oriented design. Java was meant for cable boxes but was improved for the web. Java was designed around "write once, run anywhere," meaning Java apps can run on any Java Virtual Machine. More than three billion devices run Java.

PHP, originally short for personal homepage, was created by Rasmus Lerdorf. People used it for web development. WordPress is written in PHP.

Also, Ruby came about, created by Yukihiro Matsumoto. Ruby mixes aspects from other languages like Perl, Smalltalk, Basic, and Lisp. Like PHP, they commonly use Ruby in web development. However, Ruby runs slower than other web languages. Ruby has dynamic typing and garbage collection.

Lastly, in 1995, JavaScript was created. Brendan Eich made it in 10 days. JavaScript improves web browser interactions. It's often compiled just-in-time and is core tech along with HTML and CSS for the web.

Modern Languages and Future Trends (2000-Present)

Let's look at some more modern languages and how programming continues to change.

In 2000, C# was developed by Microsoft as part of the .NET initiative. C# mixes the power of C++ with the simplicity of Visual Basic. C# is like Java and is used in Microsoft products. It is object-oriented, consists of strong typing, and uses lexical scope.

Scala came about in 2003, created by Martin Odersky. It mixes math-style programming with object-oriented programming. Scala aimed to improve upon some criticisms of Java. In the same year, Groovy came about. James Strachan created it as an improved version of Java. Developers like Groovy because it's simple to learn and succinct.

In 2009, Google developed Go, also known as Golang. Go was made to fix problems common in Google's software systems where languages like Java and C++ fell short. In terms of syntax, Go is similar to C but with memory safety and garbage collection.

In 2014, Apple developed Swift. It replaced most other languages used at Apple, such as C, C++, and Objective-C. They know Swift for being simple to use and having less room for error. Desktop and mobile apps often use Swift.

Conclusion

From Lovelace's algorithm to today's AI-driven coding, the world of programming languages has changed big time. What was a niche field has turned into a crucial part of our lives. As technology keeps changing, expect even more amazing changes in programming languages. Who knows what cool languages will pop up next?