History of Computer

Programming
Languages
Prepared by: Marvin C. Luquiaz, MIT

References: https://www.onlinecollegeplan.com/computer-programming-languages/
INTRODUCTION
Computer programming is essential in our world today,
running the systems for almost every device we use.
Computer programming languages allow us to tell
machines what to do. Machines and humans “think”
very differently, so programming languages are
necessary to bridge that gap.
The first computer programming language was created in
1883, when a woman named Ada Lovelace worked with
Charles Babbage on his very early mechanical computer, the
Analytical Engine.

While Babbage was concerned with simply computing

numbers, Lovelace saw that the numbers the computer
worked with could represent something other than just
amounts of things. She wrote an algorithm for the Analytical
Engine that was the first of its kind.

Because of her contribution, Lovelace is credited with creating

the first computer programming language. As different needs
have arisen and new devices have been created, many more
languages have followed.
Analytical Engine - was to be a general-purpose, fully
program-controlled, automatic mechanical digital computer. It would
be able to perform any calculation set before it.
 1 Programming
Languages
Evolution

References: https://www.onlinecollegeplan.com/computer-programming-languages/
1883: Algorithm for the Analytical Engine: Created by Ada
Lovelace for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine to compute
Bernoulli numbers, it’s considered to be the first computer
programming language.
1949: Assembly Language: First widely used in the Electronic
Delay Storage Automatic Calculator, assembly language is a
type of low-level computer programming language that
simplifies the language of machine code, the specific
instructions needed to tell the computer what to do.
1952: Autocode: Autocode was a generic term for a family of
early computer programming languages. The first was
developed by Alick Glennie for the Mark 1 computer at the
University of Manchester in the U.K. Some consider autocode
to be the first compiled computer programming language,
meaning that it can be translated directly into machine code
using a program called a compiler.
1957: Fortran: A computer programming language created by
John Backus for complicated scientific, mathematical, and
statistical work, Fortran stands for Formula Translation. It is
the one of the oldest computer programming languages still
used today.
1958: Algol: Created by a committee for scientific use, Algol
stands for Algorithmic Language. Algol served as a starting
point in the development of languages such as Pascal, C, C++,
and Java.
1959: COBOL: Created by Dr. Grace Murray Hopper as a
computer programming language that could run on all brands
and types of computers, COBOL stands for COmmon Business
Oriented Language. It is used in ATMs, credit card processing,
telephone systems, hospital and government computers,
automotive systems, and traffic signals. In the movie The
Terminator, pieces of COBOL source code were used in the
Terminator’s vision display.
1959: LISP: Created by John McCarthy of MIT, LISP is still in
use. It stands for LISt Processing language. It was originally
created for artificial intelligence research but today can be
used in situations where Ruby or Python are used.
1964: BASIC: Developed by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E.
Kurtz at Dartmouth College so that students who did not have
a strong technical or mathematical understanding could still
use computers, it stands for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code. A modified version of BASIC was written by
Bill Gates and Paul Allen. This was to become the first
Microsoft product.
1970: Pascal: Developed by Niklaus Wirth, Pascal was named
in honor of the French mathematician, physicist, and
philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is easy to learn and was originally
created as a tool for teaching computer programming. Pascal
was the main language used for software development in
Apple’s early years.
1972: Smalltalk: Developed by Alan Kay, Adele Goldberg, and
Dan Ingalls at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Smalltalk
allowed computer programmers to modify code on the fly and
also introduced other aspects now present in common
computer programming languages including Python, Java, and
Ruby.
1972: C: Developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs, C is
considered by many to be the first high-level language. A
high-level computer programming language is closer to
human language and more removed from the machine code.
C was created so that an operating system called Unix could
be used on many different types of computers. It has
influenced many other languages, including Ruby, C#, Go,
Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, and Python.
1972: SQL: SQL was developed by Donald D. Chamberlin and
Raymond F. Boyce at IBM. SQL stands for Structured Query
Language. It is used for viewing and changing information that
is stored in databases. SQL uses command sentences called
queries to add, remove, or view data.
1978: MATLAB: Developed by Cleve Moler. MATLAB stands
for Matrix Laboratory. It is one of the best computer
programming languages for writing mathematical programs
and is mainly used in mathematics, research, and education. It
can also be used to create two- and three-dimensional
graphics.
1983: Objective-C: Created by Brad Cox and Tom Love,
Objective-C is the main computer programming language
used when writing software for macOS and iOS, Apple’s
operating systems.
1983: C++: C++ is an extension of the C language and was
developed by Bjarne Stroustrup. It is one of the most widely
used languages in the world. C++ is used in game engines and
high-performance software like Adobe Photoshop. Most
packaged software is still written in C++.
1987: Perl: Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987
as a scripting language designed for text editing. Its purpose
was to make report processing easier. It is now widely used
for many purposes, including Linux system administration,
Web development, and network programming.
1990: Haskell: Named after Haskell Brooks Curry, an American
logician and mathematician. Haskell is called a purely
functional computer programming language, which basically
means that it is mostly mathematical. It is used by many
industries, especially those that deal with complicated
calculations, records, and number-crunching.
1991: Python: Designed by Guido Van Rossum, Python is
easier to read and requires fewer lines of code than many
other computer programming languages. It was named after
the British comedy group Monty Python. Popular sites like
Instagram use frameworks that are written in Python.
1991: Visual Basic: Developed by Microsoft, Visual Basic
allows programmers to choose and change pre-selected
chunks of code in a drag-and-drop fashion through a graphical
user interface (GUI).
1993: R: Developed by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman at
the University of Auckland, New Zealand, R is named after the
first names of the first two authors. It is mostly used by
statisticians and those performing different types of data
analysis.
1995: Java: Originally called Oak, Java was developed by Sun
Microsystems. It was intended for cable boxes and hand-held
devices but was later enhanced so it could be used to deliver
information on the World Wide Web. Java is everywhere,
from computers to smartphones to parking meters. Three
billion devices run Java!
1995: PHP: Created by Rasmus Lerdorf, PHP is used mostly for
Web development and is usually run on Web servers. It
originally stood for Personal Home Page, as it was used by
Lerdorf to manage his own online information. PHP is now
widely used to build websites and blogs. WordPress, a popular
website creation tool, is written using PHP.
1995: Ruby: Ruby was created by Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto,
who combined parts of his favorite languages to form a new
general-purpose computer programming language that can
perform many programming tasks. It is popular in Web
application development. Ruby code executes more slowly,
but it allows for computer programmers to quickly put
together and run a program.
1995: JavaScript: Created in just 10 days by Brendan Eich, this
language is mostly used to enhance many Web browser
interactions. Almost every major website uses Javascript.
2000: C#: Developed by Microsoft with the goal of combining
the computing ability of C++ with the simplicity of Visual Basic,
C# is based on C++ and is similar to Java in many aspects. It is
used in almost all Microsoft products and is primarily used for
developing desktop applications.
2003: Scala: Created by Martin Odersky. Scala is a computer
programming language that combines functional
programming, which is mathematical, with object-oriented
programming, which is organized around data that controls
access to code. Its compatibility with Java makes it helpful in
Android development.
2003: Groovy: Developed by James Strachan and Bob
McWhirter, Groovy is derived from Java and improves the
productivity of developers because it is easy to learn and
concise.
2009: Go: Go was developed by Google to address problems
that can occur in large software systems. Since computer and
technology use is much different today than it was when
languages such as C++, Java, and Python were introduced and
put to use, problems arose when huge computer systems
became common. Go was intended to improve the working
environment for programmers so they could write, read, and
maintain large software systems more efficiently.
2014: Swift: Developed by Apple as a replacement for C, C++,
and Objective-C, Swift is supposed to be easier to use and
allows less room for mistakes. It is versatile and can be used
for desktop and mobile apps and cloud services.
 2 Computer
Programming
Languages Today

References: /
Most computer programming languages were inspired
by or built upon concepts from previous computer
programming languages.

Today, while older languages still serve as a strong

foundation for new ones, newer computer programming
languages make programmers’ work simpler. Businesses
rely heavily on programs to meet all of their data,
transaction, and customer service needs. Science and
medicine need accurate and complex programs for their
research.
Mobile applications must be updated to meet consumer
demands. And all of these new and growing needs
ensure that computer programming languages, both old
and new, will remain an important part of modern life.
 3 Programming
Paradigms

References: /
A programming paradigm is the
classification, style or way of
programming. It is an approach to solve
problems by using programming
languages. There are several
programming languages that use
paradigms, but to do this, they need to
follow a strategy or methodology.
1. Imperative Programming
Control flow in imperative programming is explicit:
commands show how the computation takes place,
step by step. Each step affects the global state of the
computation
2. Structured programming
is a kind of imperative programming where control
flow is defined by nested loops, conditionals, and
subroutines, rather than via gotos. Variables are
generally local to blocks (have lexical scope).
3. Object Oriented Programming
OOP is based on the sending of messages to objects.
Objects respond to messages by performing
operations, generally called methods. Messages can
have arguments.
4. Declarative Programming
Control flow in declarative programming is implicit: the
programmer states only what the result should look
like, not how to obtain it.
4. Functional Programming
In functional programming, control flow is expressed
by combining function calls, rather than by assigning
values to variables