Most(ly dead) Influential Programming Languages

Post by kqr » Thu, Mar 26, 2020, 8:29 PM UTC

tyingq wrote: post #127

goto11 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the idea that programming languages should be more like human languages seemed promising at the time. Perl showed us that we definitely does not want that.

Not sure I understand that one. I know Larry Wall is a linguist. But there's not much about Perl, to me, that seems like a human language. If I dig into the gripes about the syntax, it's usually use of the implied $_ variable, wide use of sigils ($, @, %), derefs of complex data structures (hash of lists of hashes, etc) or regex syntax that people are talking about.

Post by agumonkey » Thu, Mar 26, 2020, 8:34 PM UTC

diggan wrote: post #18

andybak wrote: post #13

Lisp? (ducks for cover) I know someone writing Smalltalk on a daily basis for this system: https://kyma.symbolicsound.com/

The article is about "mostly dead" languages. Lisp lives on under many forms, Common Lisp, Clojure and Racket being some of the more popular ones. If we're only talking about influential languages, I'd agree with you and put lisp on the top.

Post by agumonkey » Thu, Mar 26, 2020, 8:36 PM UTC

padseeker wrote: post #136

No one is doing anything new in COBOL but there is so much old stuff that could only be replaced by a massive investment in rebuilding infrastructure. COBOL isn't dying anytime soon. At one point, like 10-15 years ago, I knew experienced well paid COBOL programmers being laid off and being replaced by kids fresh out of school. And then CS programs, if not outright stopped, at least greatly reduced teaching COBOL cour…

Post by dleslie » Thu, Mar 26, 2020, 9:08 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #215

davedx wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The argument is why C++ hasn't died, and the video games industry has undoubtably contributed to its staying power. Most of the things you list have replaced C++ with other languages.

I am not saying it hasn't contributed, rather that it hasn't been a critical factor to keep C++ around, the OS SDKs have been it. Had Apple, Microsoft, Google decided otherwise and game community opinions wouldn't matter.

Post by lizmat » Thu, Mar 26, 2020, 9:42 PM UTC

kqr wrote: post #241

tyingq wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure I understand that one. I know Larry Wall is a linguist. But there's not much about Perl, to me, that seems like a human language. If I dig into the gripes about the syntax, it's usually use of the implied $_ variable, wide use of sigils ($, @, %), derefs of complex data structures (hash of lists of hashes, etc) or regex syntax that people are talking about.

That is one of the things that are so brilliant about Perl. Tell a developer to create a programming language inspired by natural languages and you'll get verbose crap like COBOL which superficially looks "natural" but is very far from how languages work. Perl, on the other hand, looks just like a programming language would if it was the only way we could talk to computers, day in, day out: - Implicit "it" variable,…

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