

A Brief And Mostly Wrong History Of Programming Languages - signa11
http://james-iry.blogspot.com/2009/05/brief-incomplete-and-mostly-wrong.html

======
acqq
(2009) Also previously on HN:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3503896](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3503896)
45 comments

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=599164](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=599164)
14 comments

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5695816](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5695816)
33 comments

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1327746](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1327746)
13 comments

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6953863](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6953863)
12 comments

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6504217](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6504217)
8 comments

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5804668](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5804668)
5 comments

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crististm
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-hawk
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.

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ama729
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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wall#Education)

------
bromagosa
My favourite quote:

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

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Doctor_Fegg
Fun, but I prefer the Molesworth one:

[http://tjathurman.tumblr.com/post/64695616290/molesworth-1](http://tjathurman.tumblr.com/post/64695616290/molesworth-1)

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

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

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blueskin_

      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.

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

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Dogamondo
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](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JxAXlJEmNMg)

------
thearn4
"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-hawk
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."_

------
daGrevis
> 1958 - John McCarthy and Paul Graham invent LISP.

I can't stop laughing.

~~~
Aqwis
2008 - John McCarthy and Paul Graham invent LISP.

:)

~~~
coldcode
You are missing a parenthesis.

------
pliny
Missing 2007: Google invents C.

~~~
vezzy-fnord
*ALGOL

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

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

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

