Brief History of Programming Languages | Teen Ink

Brief History of Programming Languages

March 8, 2024
By MajorWrites BRONZE, None, Other
MajorWrites BRONZE, None, Other
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When using technology to check applications, play games, and surf the web. Have you wondered what makes those things work? Its Programming.Programming Languages are important from history as it had started from the 1840s with the analytical engine to 1945 ENIAC to now with modern languages. Programming languages have been created and used throughout the years from the early start, to the brigade of the 1960’s to 1990’s languages and to the latest modern languages made. The languages had started from binary code which includes ones and zeroes to becoming text-based languages. 


First, the early programming languages started with Plankalkul, ENIAC, and FACT. The Earliest programming language started as Plankalkul which means Plan Calculus. “The first real computer programming language, Plankalkul, allowed for the creation of procedures and structured data”.(Britannica Editors, 2024). As explained by the quote the program was ahead of its time for the creation of procedures and structural data. The 2nd programming language that's part of the early years is ENIAC. The ENIAC language used binary code for electronic construction as well as it had stood for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator. The ENIAC language started production in 1945. The Last of the Early programming languages included the FACT language. The FACT language was an early computer language that was made by Honewell in 1959 for its 800 series computers. “FACT was an acronym for Fully Automatic Compiling Technique, It was an influence on the design of the COBOL Programming language”(IT History Society,2024). The quote explains what the FACT acronym stands for and how it was influenced for other programming languages as well. All in all, The Early Programming languages helped with setting the groundwork for other programming languages that came through for the future.


Secondly, the second age of programming languages was through the 1960’s to the 1990’s which included the languages that were created from the 1960s to the 1990s include GPSS, C, and JavaScript.  The first language that will be talked about from the 1960s to 1990’s era is GPSS. The GPSS language was created in the 1960’s by Geoffery Gordon who worked at IBM.“GPSS is a simulation language used for discrete-event simulations. It is especially useful in the modeling of queuing systems, with many statistics being collected automatically”(Gordon, 2024). As explained by the quote, the programming language named GPSS is a simulation language that was used for discrete-event simulation that was useful in many ways. That GPSS was created in IBM as it still gets support to this day with the acronym meaning General Purpose Simulation System. The 2nd Language that was created during the era of the 1960s to the 1990s was the C programming language. The C programming language came out in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at a place called Bell Labs. “C is an imperative procedural language, supporting structured programming, lexical variable scope, and recursion, with a static type system”(Ritchie & Thompson, 2024). As explained by the quote the C programming language is an imperative procedural language that can do many things like a lexical variable scope and has a static typing system. In which the programming language is still getting updates every couple of years. The 3rd language that will be talked about that was created during the era of 1960’s to the 90’s is JavaScript. Javascript is a language that was created in 1995 by Bryan Eich. “Javascript is a multi-paradigm programming language with different types and operators with standard built-in objects and methods as well as its syntax which is based off of the java and c languages” (“Mozilla ,2023”). As explained, javascript is a programming language that has basics to learn. For the end, the 2nd era of programming languages evolved a bit more from the early ages by adding new stuff throughout the years during the boom of programming languages being built every day in the 1960s to the 1990s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least, The final age of programming languages is the modern languages which include GDScript, Windows Powershell, and Rust. The first language that's part of the modern languages that will be talked about is GDScript. The programming language GDScript had been built off of other languages like Python and Javascript. “GDScript is a dynamically typed programming language that is optimized for scene-based architecture and can specify strict typing of variables.”(Linietsky & Manzur, 2024). As explained by the quote the language GDScript is a language that is used for scene-based architecture and can specify strict typing of variables. The language is also created specifically for an engine called Godot which came out in 2014 for the public which can be used for 2D and 3D projects. The 2nd language that's part of the modern languages is Windows Powershell. Windows powershell had been created by Microsoft back in the year 2002 under the name Monad at first which had 3 betas before being released to the public.”The concept of powershell had contained the ideas to create a standardized platform that used the .NET framework through automation tasks.”(JavaPoint, n.d.). As explained by the quote, The concept of powershell had contained different ideas that can be used on a standardized platform through frameworks which had finally been released in 2006 with getting updates still to this day. The 3rd and final language that is part of the modern languages that will be talked about is Rust. The language rust had started out as a dream by Graydon Hoare then Mozilla saw its potential to make it an actual language by advertising it at first before it was revealed in 2010 to the public.”Rust is a programming language that focuses on safety and performance by emphasizing safe concurrency by having multiple tasks be completed concurrently.”(Milano, 2020). As explained by the quote, the programming language rust was made to focus on safety and performance from safe concurrency. At the end, The modern languages of programming have evolved some more to help with other issues and advancements from other languages to be based off of from.

 

Throughout the world for application development, surfing the web and using technology. They had been programmed from programming languages. There are many types of programming languages that can do certain things but they have come a long way from starting out with early ages, to the boom of the creation in the 1960s to the 1990s and the modern ages. As of all, programming languages have a great history of being created and to have a future of them being made and updated all of the time.


References:

Barfield, R. (2021, March 30). Computer Programming a Brief History. Bricsys. Retrieved February 14, 2024, from bricsys.com/en-eu/blog/computer-programming-a-brief-history


Britannica Editors. (2024). Plankalkül | computer language. Britannica. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from britannica.com/technology/Plankalkul


Gordon, G. (2024). GPSS. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPSS


IT History Society. (2024). FACT computer language. IT History Society. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from ithistory.org/resource/fact-computer-language


JavaPoint. (n.d.). History of Windows PowerShell. Javatpoint. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from javatpoint.com/history-of-windows-powershell


Linietsky, J., & Manzur, A. (2024). Godot (game engine). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godot_(game_engine)


Milano, M. (2020, August 10). The Rust Programming Language: Its History and Why It Matters. Talentopia. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from talentopia.com/news/the-rust-programming-language-its-history-and-why/

 


Mozilla. (2023, November 14). JavaScript language overview - JavaScript | MDN. MDN Web Docs. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Language_overview

 


Ritchie, D., & Thompson, K. (2024). C (programming language). Wikipedia. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)(Ritchie & Thompson, 2024)

Sims, N. (2024). The History of Programming Languages The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) completed in 1945, was one of the first computers that. - ppt download. SlidePlayer. Retrieved February 19, 2024, from slideplayer.com/slide/9459614/



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