History of programming languages

The history of programming languages spans from documentation of early mechanical computers to modern tools for software development.

Early programming languages were highly specialized, relying on mathematical notation and similarly obscure syntax.

[1] Throughout the 20th century, research in compiler theory led to the creation of high-level programming languages, which use a more accessible syntax to communicate instructions.

During 1842–1849, Ada Lovelace translated the memoir of Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea about Charles Babbage's newest proposed machine: the Analytical Engine; she supplemented the memoir with notes that specified in detail a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers with the engine, recognized by most of historians as the world's first published computer program.

[4] Jacquard Looms and Charles Babbage's Difference Engine both were designed to utilize punched cards,[5][6] which would describe the sequence of operations that their programmable machines should perform.

The limited speed and memory capacity forced programmers to write hand-tuned assembly language programs.

It was eventually realized that programming in assembly language required a great deal of intellectual effort.

[citation needed] An early proposal for a high-level programming language was Plankalkül, developed by Konrad Zuse for his Z1 computer between 1942 and 1945 but not implemented at the time.

In the early 1950s, Alick Glennie developed Autocode, possibly the first compiled programming language, at the University of Manchester.

In 1954, FORTRAN was invented at IBM by a team led by John Backus; it was the first widely used high-level general purpose language to have a functional implementation, in contrast to only a design on paper.

[9][10] When FORTRAN was first introduced, it was viewed with skepticism due to bugs, delays in development, and the comparative efficiency of "hand-coded" programs written in assembly.

[16] Other languages still in use today include LISP (1958), invented by John McCarthy and COBOL (1959), created by the Short Range Committee.

A significant fraction of programmers believed that, even in languages that provide goto, it is bad programming style to use it except in rare circumstances.

The United States government standardized Ada, a systems programming language intended for use by defense contractors.

In particular, the JavaScript programming language rose to popularity because of its early integration with the Netscape Navigator web browser.

Some of the trends have included: Big Tech companies introduced multiple new programming languages that are designed to serve their needs.

Many Big Tech companies continued introducing new programming languages that are designed to serve their needs and provides first-class support for their platforms.