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Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?

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Re: Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?

#191

Post by disconnected »

networked wrote: post #77

Tcl. It works really well as a cross-platform (*nix/Windows) alternative to shell scripting that doesn't suffer from the same problems as the POSIX shell (see http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/fixing-unix-linux-filenames.h... ). It builds on the same foundation of everything being text but with a few changes to the substitution rules builds something a lot like a Lisp on top of it.

I found expect (which is Tcl + some extensions, I believe) to be quite useful.

Implementing something like modem initialization - "Send AT command to modem/wait for a reply matching one of several patterns or a timeout/handle result/rinse, lather, repeat until done" - is quite trivial to do with expect.

It's not something I use every day, but it's one of those useful things to keep in your mental toolbox.

Re: Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?

#192

Post by dver »

PeCaN wrote: post #35
noonespecial wrote: post #7

Pascal/Delphi Before there was an internet of lightbulbs and smoke detectors, there was an internet of industrial process things. And they used windows 2000 and Delphi. They still do.

There are still a bunch of modern Windows desktop applications written in Delphi and C++Builder – I work on one of them. ^_^ I really like Delphi actually. It's a shame Embarcadero doesn't really seem to care about it.

I spent time recently in the webcasts for the new version of Delphi, and from what I saw they're doing some good work. The mobile development for example is enticing.

But, and I asked during the webcasts, who's going to buy into a new project now?

For myself I have a couple of old D7 apps for clients that have been running for a decade now.

Re: Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?

#193

Post by michel-slm »

PeCaN wrote: post #40

C++98 with a few C++11 features for work (our compiler is not really C++11 compliant at all, but it does have move semantics). Ada for fun, though I'd say Ada 2012 is a bit like C++11 in terms of “basically a new language”. People do seem to have a perception of Ada as ‘old’, though I'm not sure why (it is, by my account, more ‘modern’ than, say, Go – actually, it's not unlike Go with a nice generics system).

I did Ada 95 back in college. Was really nice for embedded programming -- the built-in concurrency primitives are astounding, and it feels like a much safer systems programming language than C/C++

Re: Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?

#194

Post by swalsh »

irrational wrote: post #190

I don't know if 21 years counts as old (I didn't feel especially old when I was 21), but the first thing that comes to mind is JavaScript.

Open the flood gates allowing other languages in browsers... then let's see how well it does.

Re: Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?

#196

Post by mikelevins »

Lisp. For all purposes. It conquered my brain in 1988 and ever since then it's the first thing I turn to whenever it's an option. My favorite Lisp ever was Ralph. My favorite nowadays is Common Lisp. Generally speaking, I like any Lisp better than anything else, but I prefer those that preserve the whole interactive programming-as-teaching culture in all its glory.

Python for when someone needs me to work on Django, and also for helping my younger daughter learn programming, because it's a pretty accessible place to start.

C when I need to be that close to the machine and there's some reason not to use Lisp.

Re: Ask HN: What “old” programming languages will you still be using in 2017?

#197

Post by swalsh »

paulrpotts wrote: post #124
lgessler wrote: post #9

MUMPS. Despite its strong resemblance to compiler IR and lack of a type system, it is the standard DB in Health IT in America.

Oddly enough I just got a recruiter spam message for a MUMPS developer position. I had never heard of it, but I thought to myself "why would I want to develop mumps???"

MUMPS get's a bad rep, it's kind of ugly, but has some awesome ideas built into it. I'm not convinced EPIC's success is despite the fact it uses MUMPS, I think it's a contributing factor.
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