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24 dec 06
Describe the differences between different programming languages...Fortran, C++, et al.
huh? why are you asking me this? where did this association between me and programming come from? i'll pick a few languages that come to mind, but you might want to check out a list of extant programming languages. there are oodles.
i know vastly, vastly more about the culture of computers than i do about computers themselves. hence, i can tell you about the languages, in a very literary way, much more easily than i can write for you programs in them.
| language |
uses |
difficulty |
reputation |
do i care? |
BASIC (and maybe Visual Basic) |
it had some use long ago, like...a real programming language. then, it was just used to teach kids. accused of imparting on kids in their "first language acquisition phase" bad programming habits. i don't think it was compilable, but i could be wrong. |
easy. the requisite line numbers are annoying, but they may not have been necessary in later versions. |
lame, but visual basic is not lame. you use visual basic to program in .NET, which is one of microsoft's non-lame products. or, you can use it to script web pages. it's got massive objects/libraries, i think (visual basic). |
not really, except my first programs for fun were all done with a 486 BASIC interpreter. visual basic might be necessary if i ever end up in .NET, which is where the civilized world seems to go. |
|
Pascal |
Strictly a teaching language. |
easy |
pointless. other languages are now used to introduce programming. |
no. i took "intro to programming" when pascal was used, and it was all more or less identical to every other language. |
| JavaScript |
makes a browser do things. really limited scope, but a full-featured language nonetheless. No relation to Java (hate to point that out again, but it really is quite weird and seems like some prick was being trying to be deliberately confusing). |
weird |
it has an unfair rep as a losery scripting language -- pop up windows, scrolling status bar, etc. now, with AJAX, people are starting to take it seriously. check out tiddlywiki.org, and of course google maps. yahoo tv guide, too -- all of these use AJAX (basically loading an extremely complex and sprawling data store a bit at a time onto a web page).
when you use it for things other than resizing windows, you get a sense for how annoying the syntax is. the whole DOM system also annoys me. i just don't care about browsers and html so much as to design a whole conceptual paradigm around them, let alone pay attention to it. |
i don't like the syntax, and i haven't bothered to get all artsy with the browser manipulation capabilities (which are endless, for all intents). supposedly this should be my big thing, but i don't care that much. like, anything you can envision happening on a browser window, visually, should be possible to write in JavaScript. |
| Perl |
manipulate text, generate web pages, other stuff. |
medium |
has some ardent worshippers and loathing detractors |
nah. yeah. whatever. |
| Python |
same as perl. |
easy |
is somewhat similar to perl, but supposedly with this wonderful syntax that makes it a joy to use (smells like macintosh). and it's true -- it's a lot less annoying than other languages, requiring less {}{}}+++_+>>...... and nonsense like that. |
sorta...if i continue in programming, i'd like to pursue it, maybe. or not. maybe just go with the crackhead plan. |
| Fortran |
number crunching, experimental simulation (i think) |
impossible |
for scientists, engineers, and such. deprecated, but still used. |
absolutely not |
| Lisp |
don't know. everything, i think. not object-oriented. |
totally bizarre |
for weirdos -- it's supposed to work in a very different way than any other language (different approach to syntax and semantics), and learning it is supposed to re-wire your brain and make you a more intelligent programmer overall. |
maybe |
| Brainfuck |
was designed to be the most impossible programming language to write. here's how to print "hello world":
++++++++++
[>+++++++>++++++++++>+++>+<<<<-]
>++.
>+.
+++++++.
.
+++.
>++.
<<+++++++++++++++.
>.
+++.
------.
--------.
>+.
>. |
funny |
for weirdo geeks. it's something called an "obfuscated language", which is a language made as hard as possible by people who enjoy this sort of thing. there are people out there who are really, really good at programming -- whose minds just work in a way that is largely unfamiliar to me (or to you, maybe). |
yeah, because i'm cool like dat |
| C |
one of the first. non-object oriented, very low-level (manipulating what actual bits of electricity are doing in the parts of the computer by hand) |
hard |
for old-schoolaz |
yeah |
| Forth |
also very low-level, non object oriented. supposedly it can serve as an operating system. it enjoys a bizarre syntax ("reverse polish notation", found in some calculators), and is used in all sorts of oddball scenarios (serving as an "operating system" for satellites and other scientific equipment, for instance). |
impossible |
for weirdos. i can't believe i know this, but there's a supposed pro-forth bumper sticker that reads in the forth syntax:
FORTH LOVE IF HONK THEN |
a bit, if possible |
| C++ |
object oriented language with 981,092,358,102,385 libraries, standard for application development. i don't think it shares much, if anything significant, with C. |
sort of hard |
for CS students, and developers in india |
necessarily |
| Java |
enter the "virtual machine" and "runtime environment", concepts that are shared by .NET and macromedia coldfusion (useless). if a java environment is set up on a given machine (any kind), then any java program will run on it. this always seemed like a stupid concept to me, but whatever. people like it. |
sort of hard, but not as hard as C++ |
for everyone |
nah, but perhaps necessesarily |
| C# |
Same as Java, but with .NET |
Same as Java, but with .NET |
Same as Java, but with .NET |
Same as Java, but with .NET |
| HQ9+ |
I just had to mention this one -- go back after I'd posted the answer and add this line -- because it's so cool. at one point i had it on my resume. in "intro to programming class", there are three quite common projects often asked of students: 1) print "hello world". 2) write a program that prints out a copy of itself (called a "quine"). 3) write a program that, using loops, variables, adding, and such, prints the lyrics to "99 bottles of beer on the wall".
so, we have H, Q, and 9, which are three of only four commands in the programing language, that do the three aforementioned tasks, respectively. the + command "increments the accumulator", which is the most basic thing a computer can do (count to one).
purely a joke, but i like it. it really was a line on my resume, until i realized that suits don't find this sort of thing funny.
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i'm thinking of some others now, like UNIX shell scripting, SQL, Befunge (a worse Brainfuck), etc, but whatever. it's not like you really need to know, person from georgia. no, that's mean -- i should encourage pure curiosity. what would the world be, otherwise?
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