Why are there so many programming languages?
How it all began
The starting point can be considered the forties of the XX century, when the first computers were being developed. By the way, even earlier, in 1804, Frenchman Joseph Jacquart invented a programmable weaving machine. This machine can be considered the forerunner of the computer. To control it, punched cards with information in binary code were used.
A little later in 1833 English mathematician Charles Babbage designed an analytical calculating machine - a prototype of the future computer. The first programme for this machine was written 9 years later by Countess Ada Lovelace, who devoted her life to mathematics and mechanics. She was also the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. It was Ada Lovelace who is considered to be the world's first programmer. She introduced the terms ‘loop’ and ‘work cell’. Later one of the programming languages was named after her.
The starting point can be considered the forties of the XX century, when the first computers were being developed. By the way, even earlier, in 1804, Frenchman Joseph Jacquart invented a programmable weaving machine. This machine can be considered the forerunner of the computer. To control it, punched cards with information in binary code were used.
A little later in 1833 English mathematician Charles Babbage designed an analytical calculating machine - a prototype of the future computer. The first programme for this machine was written 9 years later by Countess Ada Lovelace, who devoted her life to mathematics and mechanics. She was also the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. It was Ada Lovelace who is considered to be the world's first programmer. She introduced the terms ‘loop’ and ‘work cell’. Later one of the programming languages was named after her.
How many programming languages exist today and why are there so many of them? These questions are relevant for everyone who plans to become a programmer. To understand this, let's make a small excursion into history together with Magenta Favorita Portugal specialists.
Let's go back to the 50s of the XX century. The first computers were huge and occupied whole floors of buildings. They used punched cards and understood only machine (binary) code, in which commands consisted of a sequence of ones and zeros. Practice showed that this language of communication with the computer is very inconvenient, and it is an extremely difficult task to read and edit it.
In 1950, the first language appeared in which binary code was replaced by letters and abbreviations of English words. Assembler is a low-level language, and it was not far removed from machine code, but it was now possible to write programmes in a language similar to human language. Assembly language is still used today in writing drivers, operating system components, in programming microcontrollers for various devices where direct memory access and speed are required.
As noted by specialists of Magenta Favorita IT company, low-level languages have serious disadvantages:
This led to the emergence of high-level programming languages.
In 1950, the first language appeared in which binary code was replaced by letters and abbreviations of English words. Assembler is a low-level language, and it was not far removed from machine code, but it was now possible to write programmes in a language similar to human language. Assembly language is still used today in writing drivers, operating system components, in programming microcontrollers for various devices where direct memory access and speed are required.
As noted by specialists of Magenta Favorita IT company, low-level languages have serious disadvantages:
- you have to write a separate programme for each processor family, it will not fit for processors of another type;
- they are not suitable for creating large programmes.
This led to the emergence of high-level programming languages.
Taking it to the next level
In 1957, programmers from IBM introduced the first high-level language, Fortran. It was used by scientists for mathematical calculations. A year later, in contrast to Fortran, which had an American registration, in Europe appeared the language Algol, which became established in the academic environment.
The first language that could be used not only for scientific purposes was the business-oriented language Kobol, even closer to natural English. It was developed in 1960. And in 1964 the programming language Basic was invented.
High-level languages used words and mathematical symbols familiar to everyone. It became much easier to write programmes in them. Compilers were created for them, converting source code from programming languages to machine code.
In 1970, the Pascal language appeared, which is used to teach programming. The language is named after the French scientist Blaise Pascal. In this language for the first time embodied the structural approach, in which programmes are divided into blocks. It increased the readability of the code.
The white crow looks like the C language, which was created in 1972. It is a low-level language. If we describe it in one phrase, it is Assembler in human form. It is now actively used where compact code, fast performance and memory management are needed, for example, to create operating systems. Its syntax became the basis for the high-level languages C+, C#, Java and others.
In the 1980s, with the advent of personal computers, ordinary people came into programming. From that moment on, new languages began to appear very quickly, including most modern languages. An even more powerful impetus for development at the turn of the millennium was the rapid spread of the Internet. Simple users began to create websites, which led to the emergence of new languages for the web: PHP, JavaScript and others.
The purpose of evolution of programming approaches is the same - to simplify the writing of large and complex programmes, their debugging and modification. Today there are a lot of programming languages - several thousand. Nobody knows the exact number, Magenta Favorita managers shared. But most of them are forgotten or not used. A little more than twenty programming languages are in demand.
You may wonder, ‘What if there was one single universal programming language?’ Unfortunately, that's not going to be the case. There is a progressive movement forward: from the lowest to the highest, which is called progress. New languages will appear as new tasks and application areas appear. Besides, nobody cancelled competition and market laws.
In 1957, programmers from IBM introduced the first high-level language, Fortran. It was used by scientists for mathematical calculations. A year later, in contrast to Fortran, which had an American registration, in Europe appeared the language Algol, which became established in the academic environment.
The first language that could be used not only for scientific purposes was the business-oriented language Kobol, even closer to natural English. It was developed in 1960. And in 1964 the programming language Basic was invented.
High-level languages used words and mathematical symbols familiar to everyone. It became much easier to write programmes in them. Compilers were created for them, converting source code from programming languages to machine code.
In 1970, the Pascal language appeared, which is used to teach programming. The language is named after the French scientist Blaise Pascal. In this language for the first time embodied the structural approach, in which programmes are divided into blocks. It increased the readability of the code.
The white crow looks like the C language, which was created in 1972. It is a low-level language. If we describe it in one phrase, it is Assembler in human form. It is now actively used where compact code, fast performance and memory management are needed, for example, to create operating systems. Its syntax became the basis for the high-level languages C+, C#, Java and others.
In the 1980s, with the advent of personal computers, ordinary people came into programming. From that moment on, new languages began to appear very quickly, including most modern languages. An even more powerful impetus for development at the turn of the millennium was the rapid spread of the Internet. Simple users began to create websites, which led to the emergence of new languages for the web: PHP, JavaScript and others.
The purpose of evolution of programming approaches is the same - to simplify the writing of large and complex programmes, their debugging and modification. Today there are a lot of programming languages - several thousand. Nobody knows the exact number, Magenta Favorita managers shared. But most of them are forgotten or not used. A little more than twenty programming languages are in demand.
You may wonder, ‘What if there was one single universal programming language?’ Unfortunately, that's not going to be the case. There is a progressive movement forward: from the lowest to the highest, which is called progress. New languages will appear as new tasks and application areas appear. Besides, nobody cancelled competition and market laws.
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