A Brief And Mostly Wrong History Of Programming Languages

http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html

by signa11 • 12 years ago

101 22 12 years ago

james-iry.blogspot.com

bdcravens• 12 years ago

Always a fun read, but it's been around a while. Should put (2009) on post title.

bromagosa• 12 years ago

My favourite quote:

  Lambdas are relegated to relative obscurity until Java makes them popular by not having them.

pliny• 12 years ago

Missing 2007: Google invents C.

vezzy-fnord• 12 years ago

*ALGOL

acqq• 12 years ago

(2009) Also previously on HN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3503896 45 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=599164 14 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5695816 33 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1327746 13 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6953863 12 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6504217 8 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5804668 5 comments

merloen• 12 years ago

And also previously on HN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3504010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1327881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5804907

crististm• 12 years ago

The repeated posts (any) and the number of up-votes tell me some things:

- HN user base is growing

- the post is fun, entertaining or technically valid

- Internet is small and we stumble on the same cat pictures

T-hawk2• 12 years ago

Power law distribution. A small percentage of the content gets a large proportion of views and attention, because it's the best content that everyone wants to see. This particular article is probably something like the top 1% of the top 1% of all the internet content about programming.

blueskin_• 12 years ago

  1995 - Brendan Eich reads up on every mistake ever made in designing a programming language, invents a few more, and creates LiveScript. Later, in an effort to cash in on the popularity of Java the language is renamed JavaScript. Later still, in an effort to cash in on the popularity of skin diseases the language is renamed ECMAScript.

When I first saw ECMAScript mentioned, I read it as ECZEMAscript.

daGrevis• 12 years ago

1958 - John McCarthy and Paul Graham invent LISP.

I can't stop laughing.

Aqwis• 12 years ago

2008 - John McCarthy and Paul Graham invent LISP.

coldcode• 12 years ago

You are missing a parenthesis.

kendalk• 12 years ago

Obligatory xkcd: "Lisp Cycles"

http://xkcd.com/297/

"These are your father's parentheses..."

ama729• 12 years ago

The python's one was my favorite :D.

I didn't know that, but as another commenter point out in another thread, part of he humor about pearl is that Larry Wall is really religious:

  While in graduate school at University of California, Berkeley, Wall
  and his wife were studying linguistics with the intention afterwards of
  finding an unwritten language, perhaps in Africa, and creating a writing
  system for it. They would then use this new writing system to translate
  various texts into the language, among them the Bible. Due to health
  reasons these plans were cancelled, and they remained in the United
  States, where Larry instead joined the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  after he finished graduate school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wall#Education

Doctor_Fegg• 12 years ago

Fun, but I prefer the Molesworth one:

http://tjathurman.tumblr.com/post/64695616290/molesworth-1

(and for those who don't get the background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Molesworth )

sandbags• 12 years ago

That's brilliant, he captures it perfectly. A pity if he does no more.

haddr• 12 years ago

it's been so many years and I'm still waiting for the sequel

wisty• 12 years ago

Funny. But it's so old my printout is now illegible due to coffee stains.

Dogamondo• 12 years ago

For a more accurate, informative and very digestible history of the evolution of programming languages, I urge you to watch this. It really is worth it!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JxAXlJEmNMg

kps• 12 years ago

Are there any mostly right (and consequently no so brief) histories of programming languages online now that hopl.murdoch.edu.au is dead?

thearn4• 12 years ago

"There's nothing funny about IBM or FORTRAN. It is a syntax error to write FORTRAN while not wearing a blue tie."

Love it.

T-hawk2• 12 years ago

Lore has it that in the golden days of IBM, Casual Friday meant you could work with your suit jacket unbuttoned.

While we're calling out our favorites, I'll nominate Prolog. I know nothing about Prolog but that entry makes me laugh every time. "His goal is to create a language with the intelligence of a two year old. He proves he has reached his goal by showing a Prolog session that says "No." to every query."

A Brief And Mostly Wrong History Of Programming Languages

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