The Brief History of Programming Languages
Summary
TLDRThis video script offers a historical journey through the evolution of programming languages, starting with Ada Lovelace's work on the analytical engine in 1883. It highlights key milestones, including the creation of assembly in 1949, Fortran in 1957, and influential languages like Algol, COBOL, Lisp, and C. The script also covers modern languages like Python, Java, and Swift, showcasing the development of computing and the ongoing relevance of these languages in various fields.
Takeaways
- π Ada Lovelace is often recognized as the first computer programmer for her work on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in 1843.
- π§ The first assembly language was created in 1949, closely tied to machine code and first implemented in the EDSAC at the University of Cambridge.
- π’ Auto-code in 1952 was a term for a family of early programming languages, with the first being developed at the University of Manchester.
- π Fortran, developed in 1957, is still widely used today, especially for mathematical calculations and benchmarking the world's fastest supercomputers.
- π Algol, introduced in 1958, was influential in the development of languages like Pascal, C, C++, and Java, and introduced nested function definitions and lexical scoping.
- πΌ COBOL, developed in 1959, was designed for business applications and is still found in systems like ATMs and telephone networks.
- π Lisp, created in 1959, is one of the oldest high-level programming languages and has been pivotal in the study of artificial intelligence.
- π BASIC, introduced in 1964, was designed to be accessible to students without a strong math background, and was later adapted by Bill Gates and Paul Allen for one of Microsoft's first products.
- π¨ Pascal, developed in 1970, was known for encouraging good programming practices and was used in early Apple software development.
- π£οΈ Smalltalk, created in 1972, allowed for dynamic code changes and inspired features in modern programming languages like Python.
- π© C, developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie, is considered the first true high-level programming language and has influenced many subsequent languages.
Q & A
Who is considered the first computer programmer and what was their contribution?
-Ada Lovelace is considered the first computer programmer. She developed the algorithm for the Analytical Engine, which was used to compute Bernoulli numbers for Charles Babbage, the originator of the concept of a digital computer.
What is the significance of the year 1949 in the history of programming languages?
-In 1949, the low-level language known as assembly was created. It had a strong relationship between the instructions within the language and machine code instructions and was first widely implemented in the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC).
What was the first programming language to run through a compiler?
-Auto-code, developed at the University of Manchester by Alec Glenny for the Manchester Mark I, is believed to be the first programming language to run through a compiler.
What does Fortran stand for and what is its significance?
-Fortran stands for Formula Translation. It was developed by IBM for complicated mathematical calculations and is still widely used today, including in programs that benchmark the world's fastest supercomputers.
What is the full form of COBOL and why was it created?
-COBOL stands for Common Business-Oriented Language. It was originally developed by Dr. Grace Murray Hopper and was designed to run on all brands of computers, focusing on business finance and administrative systems.
What is the significance of Lisp in programming language history?
-Lisp, standing for List Processing Language, is considered the second oldest high-level programming language after Fortran. It is known for its use of linked lists as a key data structure and became popular for the study of artificial intelligence.
What was the purpose of creating the BASIC programming language?
-BASIC, which stands for Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, was created by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College. It was designed for students without a strong background in mathematics to enable them to effectively use computers.
What is the origin of the programming language Pascal and its intended use?
-Pascal was developed by Niklaus Wirth and named after the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It was designed to be relatively easy to learn and was favored for teaching computer programming, encouraging good programming style and structure.
What is the main innovation of Smalltalk and how did it influence modern programming languages?
-Smalltalk's main innovation was allowing programmers to change code on the fly. It was primarily used for educational purposes and inspired several features found in modern programming languages, including Python.
Why was C programming language considered the first truly high-level programming language?
-C, developed by Dennis Ritchie, is considered the first truly high-level programming language because it was the first to be designed to be closer to human language rather than machine code, enabling UNIX to run on different types of computers.
What is the significance of the year 1995 in the development of programming languages?
-1995 was significant for the creation of several influential programming languages: Java, PHP, Ruby, and JavaScript. Each of these languages has had a substantial impact on various aspects of software development, particularly in web development and data science.
Outlines
π Early Beginnings of Programming Languages
This paragraph delves into the origins of programming, starting from Ada Lovelace's algorithm for the analytical engine in 1883, which is considered the first computer programming language. It then skips to 1949 with the creation of assembly language, closely tied to machine code, and implemented in the EDSAC at Cambridge University. The narrative continues with the development of auto code in 1952, Fortran in 1957, Algol in 1958, and COBOL in 1959, each with its unique characteristics and contributions to the field of programming. The paragraph concludes with the introduction of Lisp in 1959, emphasizing its influence on artificial intelligence studies.
π Evolution of Programming Languages in the 20th Century
The second paragraph outlines the evolution of programming languages from BASIC in 1964, designed for beginners by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz at Dartmouth College, to Pascal in 1970, known for its structured approach to teaching programming. It mentions the creation of Smalltalk in 1972, influential in modern programming languages, and the development of C by Dennis Ritchie in 1972, which had a significant impact on future languages and is still widely used. The paragraph also covers SQL's creation in 1972, MATLAB in 1978 for mathematical computations, Objective C in 1983, and C++ in 1983, highlighting their respective uses and influences. Perl's introduction in 1987 as a scripting language and the development of Python in 1990 for readability and ease of use are also summarized.
π The 1990s: A Golden Era for Programming Languages
This paragraph highlights the 1990s as a pivotal decade for programming language development. It begins with Java's creation in 1995 by Sun Microsystems, designed for object-oriented design and the 'write once, run anywhere' philosophy. PHP, originally for personal web development, and Ruby, combining aspects of various languages for web development, were also created in 1995. JavaScript, developed in 10 days for web browser interactions, is noted for its importance alongside HTML and CSS. The paragraph then discusses C#'s development in 2000 by Microsoft, combining C++'s computational power with Visual Basic's simplicity, and Scala's creation in 2003 to improve upon Java's criticisms. Groovy, an improvement on Java, is also mentioned.
π οΈ Modern Programming Languages and Their Impact
The final paragraph discusses the development of Go, or Golang, in 2009 by Google to address common software system issues, highlighting its memory safety and garbage collection features. It also covers Swift's creation in 2014 by Apple as a replacement for previous languages used in their ecosystem, emphasizing its ease of use and error minimization. Corrections to previous statements about Haskell, Ruby's performance, and the first high-level programming language are provided, ensuring the information's accuracy. The paragraph ends with an invitation to subscribe and engage with the content, promising future videos with valuable insights.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Programming Language
π‘Assembly Language
π‘Compiler
π‘Fortran
π‘Algorithmic Language (ALGOL)
π‘COBOL
π‘Lisp
π‘BASIC
π‘Pascal
π‘C
π‘SQL
Highlights
Ada Lovelace's algorithm for the Analytical Engine in 1883 is considered the first computer programming language.
Assembly language, created in 1949, has a strong relationship with machine code instructions.
Auto-code, a term for a family of early computer programming languages, emerged in 1952.
Fortran, developed in 1957 by IBM, is used for mathematical calculations and in benchmarking the world's fastest supercomputers.
Algol, created in 1958, influenced languages like Pascal, C, C++, and Java, and introduced code blocks and nested function definitions.
COBOL, designed by Dr. Grace Murray Hopper in 1959, is still used in ATMs, telephone systems, and business finance.
Lisp, developed in 1959, is the second oldest high-level programming language and is known for its use in artificial intelligence.
BASIC, created in 1964, was designed for beginners without a strong background in mathematics.
Pascal, named after Blaise Pascal, was developed in 1970 to encourage good programming style and structure.
Smalltalk, created in 1972, allowed programmers to change code on the fly and inspired features in modern programming languages.
C, developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie, is considered the first true high-level programming language.
SQL, created in 1972, is designed for querying databases and is still widely used today.
MATLAB, developed in 1978, is known for advanced mathematical computations and is indispensable in mathematical research.
Objective-C, created in 1983, was the main programming language for Apple's Mac OS and iOS until Swift's development.
C++, developed in 1983, is known as C with classes and is used in high-performance software like Adobe Photoshop.
Perl, appeared in 1987, is a scripting language for text editing and is used in Linux system administration and web development.
Haskell, created in 1990, is a functional programming language used for intense number crunching.
Python, designed by Guido van Rossum in 1991, is known for its readability and ease of use.
Visual Basic, developed in 1991, features a drag-and-drop interface and is known for its ease of learning.
R, created in 1993, is used by statisticians and data scientists for data analysis and statistical software development.
Java, created in 1995, is designed for object-oriented design and has the 'write once, run anywhere' philosophy.
PHP, also from 1995, is used in web development and powers platforms like WordPress.
Ruby, created in 1995, combines aspects from various languages and is commonly found in web development.
JavaScript, developed in 1995, focuses on enhancing web browser interactions and is a core web technology.
C#, created in 2000, combines the computational ability of C++ with the simplicity of Visual Basic.
Scala, developed in 2003, combines functional programming with object-oriented programming to be concise.
Groovy, also from 2003, is an improvement on Java and is favored for its simplicity and succinctness.
Go, or Go Lang, developed in 2009 by Google, is designed to address common problems in system programming.
Swift, created in 2014 by Apple, is known for its ease of use and is used for both desktop and mobile applications.
Transcripts
here is the history of programming
languages you can find the resources I
used down in the description below our
story begins 1883 I know seems really
early for a programming language the
algorithm for the analytical engine was
developed created by a lovely Lassie Ada
Lovelace also known as the princess of
parallelograms
she studied mathematics which was
atypical for women of the period her
algorithm was used to compute Bernoulli
numbers for Charles Babbage an English
mathematician who originated the concept
of a digital computer and his analytical
machine this algorithm is widely
considered to be the first computer
programming language now let's fast
forward 66 years to 1949 the low-level
language known as assembly was created
now assembly has a strong relationship
between the instructions within the
language and machine code instructions
was first widely implemented in the
electronic a delay storage automatic
calculator also known as edsac which was
constructed by maurice wilkes at the
University of Cambridge fancy the
calculator was to use to solve
differential equations and discovered a
79 digit prime number the largest known
at the time that's a lot of digits 1952
comes around we see auto code now auto
code wasn't actually a singular
programming language but a term used to
describe family of early computer
programming languages the first of which
was developed at the University of
Manchester by Alec Glenny for the
Manchester mark one is also believed to
be the first programming language to run
through a compiler five years later in
1957 the programming language for chin I
mean Fortran emerged developed by IBM
and used mainly for complicated
mathematical calculations Fortran
actually stands for formula translation
fun fact Fortran is used in programs
that benchmarked the world's fastest
supercomputers Fortran is still used
widely today just one year later in 1958
Algol was created Algol let's see if you
can guess meaning algorithmic language
was a basis for languages like Pascal C
C++ and Java most ma
languages have syntax inspired from
Algol and is considered to be amongst
the most influential early programming
languages introducing code blocks with
beginning and end delimiter z' Algol was
also the first language to implement
nested function definitions with lexical
scoping another one year later we see
COBOL originally developed by dr. grace
Murray hopper and was designed to run on
all brains of computers COBOL meaning
common business oriented language is
very common to find in ATMs telephone
systems and general business finance and
administrative systems fun facts lakhs
of kobold were used in the terminators
vision display COBOL is still used
throughout mainframe computers on legacy
applications yet much of this current
couple development primarily maintenance
for these older applications 1959 we see
Lisp developed at MIT Lisp meaning list
processing language is considered to be
the second oldest high-level programming
language after fortune
I mean Fortran now as the name implies
linked lists are key data structure
within lists and Lisp source code is
made up of lists it also became a
popular language for the study of
artificial intelligence during the
period now it's the Vietnam War 1964 the
programming language basic was produced
by John Khomeini and Thomas Kurtz at
Dartmouth College as the name implies
Spacek was designed around students who
didn't have a strong background in
mathematics so that students would still
be able to effectively use computers a
basic stands for beginners all-purpose
symbolic instruction code later in 1975
our boy Bill Gates and Paul Allen would
alter basic which would become one of
Microsoft's first products 1970 named
after the famous French mathematician
and philosopher Blaise Pascal the
programming language Pascal was
developed by Nicolaus worth compared to
prior languages Pascal was relatively
easy to learn and was favored when
teaching computer programming during the
time it was an official language
designed to encourage good programming
style and structure and for all the
students out there that means college
your code
fun fact Pascal was used throughout
Apple
early software development 1972 rolls
around and we see small talk now this
isn't just any small talk first created
by Alan Kay Adelle Goldberg and Dan
Ingalls at Xerox its main innovation was
allowing programmers to change code on
the fly and its primary use was for
educational purposes it would come to
inspire several features found in more
modern programming languages like my
personal favorite Python funny enough in
2017 small talk was the second most
loved programming language on a stack
overflow developer survey now for
everyone's favorite also in 1972 at Bell
Labs a little language simply known as B
uh-huh
C was developed by Dennis Ritchie
despite prior languages being considered
high-level programming languages C is
believed to be the truly first
high-level programming language and by
high-level we mean it is closer to human
language dead machine code first
developed so that UNIX could run on
different types of computers C has had
some influence on many future languages
during the 1980s C began to gain
traction and is still amongst the most
popular programming languages used and
it's commonly taught throughout computer
science higher level education um
speaking from personal experience now
you thought 1972 is over but not not
quite yet my friends also during this
year we see the emergence of the ever so
faithful SQL also known as sequel
originally developed by Donald
Chamberlin and raymond boyce at IBM SQL
an acronym for structured query language
SQL is a programming language designed
around querying a database and is still
widely used in database management today
now if you've had to take a linear
algebra course recently you'll be
familiar with MATLAB created in 1978 by
Cleve Moler
MATLAB stands for matrix laboratory
creative it is argued to be amongst the
best programming languages for advanced
mathematical computations and is
indispensable in mathematical research
as a student I can assure you that
MATLAB has saved me an immeasurable
amount of time manipulating matrices for
my
classes let's take a stroll over to 1983
where we first see Objective C used
created by Brad Cox and Tom love
Objective C combines Small's talk style
messaging with the C programming
language and until the recent
development of Swift in 2014 Objective C
was the main programming language for
Apple's Mac OS and iOS in 1983 we see
another improvement on the C programming
language with C++ developed by Bjorn
Strauss up at Bell Labs C++ is also
known as C with classes and was designed
with system programming in mind
featuring more high-level features it is
currently one of the most widely used
programming languages and is used in
popular high-performance software like
Minecraft
I mean Adobe Photoshop new versions of
C++ are still being released roughly
every three years with C++ 20 being the
newest upcoming release mark your
calendars 1987 the programming language
Perl makes an appearance developed by
Larry Wald as a scripting language for
text editing oddly enough Perl has no
official acronym Corolla borrows
features from C basic and Lisp and is
commonly used in Linux system
administration web development and
network programming been a long road my
friends but now we have reached the
1990s in 1990 named after an American
mathematician Haskell Brooks curry the
programming language has scale was
created it is mostly a mathematical
programming language and is used mainly
for intense number crunching yummy SQL
innovated with type classes and utilized
type inference and lazy evaluation one
year later the famous famous programming
language Python makes an appearance
designed by cuido van Rossum Python is
much easier to read and requires overall
less lines of code
compared to previous programming
languages now I bet you didn't know or
maybe it maybe it did Python is named
after the comedy group Monty Python and
is notorious for making programmers feel
lazy because it offers so much utility
and almost uncontested
code readability it is also a favorite
language for data science purposes in
one of my personal favorite programming
languages also in 1991 we see the
emergence of Visual Basic developed by
Microsoft Visual Basic ski feature
allows users to drag and drop chunks of
code in a graphical user interface it
was designed to be extremely easy to
learn and in 2016 visual basic 6.0 1 the
technical impact award at the 19th
annual dice Awards now we've come to
1993 and the programming language are is
created at the University of Auckland in
lovely New Zealand that wasn't a New
Zealand accent rasa haka and Robert
gentlemen developed R & R is mostly used
amongst actus stuff statistician
statisticians statisticians and data
scientists for data analysis and the
development of statistical software and
as of January 2020 our ranks 18th in
terms of the most popular programming
languages as we will see 1995 was
definitely the year of the programming
language and now as all freshmen
computer science majors are familiar
with the steamy tasty java programming
language was created in 1995 by sun
microsystems
press f for respect for Sun Microsystems
originally called oak not entirely sure
why Java is commonly taught for
object-oriented design as well as having
few implementation dependencies Java was
originally intended for cable boxes but
was later improved upon for use on the
World Wide Web Java was designed around
the phrase write once run anywhere where
Java applications can run on any JVM or
JVM means Java Virtual Machine
completely independent on the underlying
computer architecture fun fact more than
three billion devices currently run Java
also in 1995 PHP originally standing for
personal homepage and the target
language for many memes on the
programmer humor subreddit PHP was
developed by Rasmus Lu Dorf and was
mostly used in web development for
example the popular blog creation site
WordPress is written in
PHP next on the 1995 train is Ruby
created by Yukihiro Matsumoto Ruby is
like Matsumoto's perfect child because
he combines all his favorite aspects
from various other programming languages
like Perl small talk basic and Lisp like
PHP Ruby is most commonly found in web
development software stacks yep Ruby
runs slower compared to other web
development languages Ruby also features
dynamic typing and garbage collection
lastly in our 1995 programming language
montage JavaScript comes to the table
developed in a mere 10 days by Brendan
Eich javascript focuses on enhancing web
browser interactions javascript is often
just-in-time compiled and is considered
a core technology along HTML and CSS for
the three big double use now we go in a
bit of a relaxation period for five
years until we hit 2000 with the
development of C hash tag I mean c-sharp
created by Microsoft as a part of
the.net initiative c-sharp was designed
to combine the computational ability of
C++ with the simplicity of Microsoft's
previous Visual Basic C sharp is
comparable to Java and widely used
through many Microsoft products and
applications c-sharp consists of strong
typing lexical scope it's
object-oriented among other features
now 2003 rolls around and we have Scala
created by Martin o darsky to combine
mathematical ie
functional programming with
object-oriented programming Scala was
focused around being concise and to
improve upon many criticisms of the
object-oriented language Java also in
2003 a language I have never heard of
until now groovy was created as an
improvement on Java created by James
stretchin ruby is favored by some
developers because of its relative
simplicity when it comes to learning as
well as it's succinct Ness now down to
our two last languages in 2009 we see
the emergence of go
also known as go lang developed by the
tech giant Google Go was designed to
help fix problems that are common in
Google's mint software system
or languages like Java and C++ would
fall short in terms of syntax go is
similar to C but with the addition of
memory safety garbage collection as well
as some other useful features golang was
amongst the highest-paid recent
technical skills and if you want to
check out some of the other highest
paying technical skills check out my
other video where I talk about the
highest paid technical skills if you
made it this far thanks for sticking
with me
lastly in 2014 the mega corporation
Apple developed the programming language
Swift as a replacement for pretty much
every other language used previously
throughout Apple in typical Apple
fashion such as C C++ and Objective C
Swift is known for its ease of use and
small room for error Swift is widely
applicable to both desktop and mobile
applications if you have a Mac or maybe
a Mac OS VM you can easily download
Xcode from the Apple App Store to start
learning in programming and Swift to
create iOS applications and that my
friends has been the brief history of
programming languages up until 2020 so
as of editing this I just have a few
brief Corrections courtesy of the
programming subreddit so I refer to
Haskell as a mathematical language by
that I meant a functional language show
meaning there are no pointers or for
loops or things like that
additionally the graph I showed of
Ruby's performance was actually outdated
and ruby in today's day is about as fast
as PHP and Python lastly I also
mentioned that C was considered to be
the first high-level programming
language some people said that the 1977
revision of Fortran as well as Lisp
Pascal and Algol could be argued to be
amongst the first as well I hope you
guys liked that video consider tuning in
to a future video of mine giving you bad
British accents when you need it and
some burps when you need it some useful
advice when you need it then my name is
Mikey consider hitting that subscribe
button that like button down below
commenting down below
what you thought the video it'd mean an
absolute ton been a pleasure and I'll
see you all in another video bye-bye
[Music]
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