Graph of Programming Language Influences

Not to mention that it's just repeating whatever myths Wikipedia has picked up, like the connection of Javascript to Scheme. A more rigorously curated graph would be very interesting.

midas0073• 13 years ago

So I've had this one under construction for a while:

It's handmade, so it's better but not perfect:

https://app.box.com/s/lo36pbyqi3v2fg1wqefx [Language Family Tree.svg]

https://app.box.com/s/qxq4ohxfv44j3euas5gl [Language Family Tree.graffle]

torrance• 13 years ago

It's really interesting that Haskell, which is often portrayed as merely an academic play-thing, is so prominent. By bringing together so many language features that were otherwise relatively obscure it's acted as a kind of language laboratory — and in doing so it's made a really clear case for a lot of them.

tikhonj• 13 years ago

It's a language designer's language--just like jazz is often musician's music :).

Haskell serves as both a vessel and a showcase for PL research. It also has very close ties to a bunch of communities, including many of the people behind Microsoft's languages (VB.NET, C# and F#).

Also, while Haskell does not have a broad presence in industry, it does have a reasonable amount of mindshare. A surprising number of people know and talk about Haskell, even if they've never used it. This also helps influence the design of other languages.

tethis• 13 years ago

I know I like to talk about Haskell, even if it's too dense for me to grasp at a level where I could put it into production without jumping off a bridge.

CCs• 13 years ago

The image itself: http://bgriffen.scripts.mit.edu/www/wp-content/uploads/2014/...

camus2• 13 years ago

would be more interesting if it were interactive. Right not it's barely readable.

chao-• 13 years ago

That was my first thought as well. I wish I could click on a single language and have it highlight only its direct connections or darken everything else.

kachhalimbu• 13 years ago

Graph in the middle of that page is zoomable

yaph• 13 years ago

A while ago I created an interactive version of programming languages influence, see it at http://exploringdata.github.io/vis/programming-languages-inf...

It is based on Freebase data, which differs from DBpedia, although it is one of Freebase's sources.

frik• 13 years ago

This graph needs a clean up and there should be arrows.

Basic and QBasic/QuickBasic are on two different parts of the graph, as well as Javascript and Ecmascript.

The should be interactive and force-based so that it aligns in a nicer way.

cormullion• 13 years ago

I thought that AppleScript looked oddly placed, sheltering directly under Lisp. But some people do consider it to be influenced by Lisp/Scheme - Matt Neuburg proposes the connection somewhere in his 'AppleScript - the definitive guide'. I would have connected it more with HyperTalk, which is down past ECMAscript. And English.

lispm• 13 years ago

AppleScript was officially conceived in 1989 as a research project by the Advanced Technology Group (ATG) at Apple Computer and was code-named “Family Farm.” The research team was led by Larry Tesler and included Mike Farr, Mitchell Gass, Mike Gough, Jed Harris, Al Hoffman, Ruben Kleiman, Edmund Lai, and Frank Ludolph.

Some of those knew Lisp. The Advanced Technology Group led by Tesler used Macintosh Common Lisp in many application prototypes and research projects. There was an 'AppleScript on Steroids' written in MCL called Sk8Script by them.

midas0073• 13 years ago

Erlang is missing.

elwell2• 13 years ago

Maybe it doesn't have any influence(s).

midas0073• 13 years ago

Nope. It is heavily influenced by Prolog.

And it influenced Scala, Go and many more.

cafard• 13 years ago

informatimago• 13 years ago

http://www.levenez.com/lang/ looks much much more exhaustive.

Graph of Programming Language Influences

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