Why are There Different Programming Languages?

ByWalter Wimberly August 10, 2023August 30, 2023

There are many reasons why there are different programming languages.

Evolving Technology

One of the main reasons is that technology is always evolving, and as more technologies come into being and advance, we need more tools that can make use of these technologies.

You might remember from previous classes with me, we’ve talked about how sometimes we suffer because of choices made because of limitations of hardware when a language was constructed 20, 30, 40, or even 50 years ago.

Likewise, the programming languages we currently have might not be able to deal with specific problems that arise because of the nature of the languages’ capabilities. The issue might be so unique that there are no existing solutions that address their needs, so people or companies decide to create a new language themselves.

Therefore, new languages might need to be created to help deal with some of those specific problems.

Also, as computers become more powerful, we have the ability to add features that would have been too slow originally. Languages like Type Script extends and improve on JavaScript, which did the best it could do, with the hardware available to it at the time.

This has been going on for years, where C++ added Object-Oriented features and improved memory management to C. Then Java came about, which allowed for easier cross platform development and even better object-oriented coding compared to C++.

Over the years, functionality which catches errors either in development and/or runtime, which would have taken precious memory cycles, is now mainstream in newer languages. There is a speed penalty, but modern hardware is so fast, that few people will notice that reduction in performance.

Generic vs Domain Specific Languages

That leads us to another reason which is that different kinds of developer jobs require different tools. Just like how some doctors specialize in certain areas, programmers can specialize in different kinds of solutions they provide. Some of those solutions will require their own tools and features, and thus languages.

So where there are general purpose languages, such as Java, C#, and Python, there are also specific languages such as R, MatLib, and others which are designed for specific problem domains. Often domain specific languages were just for math and engineering types of problems. However, recently, domain specific languages have been used for various forms of artificial intelligence as well as working with large problem sets.

Innovation is also a key factor in the development of new programming languages. As technology advances, new programming languages are created to meet the needs of developers and users. Some programming languages are designed to be more efficient, while others are designed to be more user-friendly. Developers want a language that is easy to work with, fast, and supports the features they feel are most useful.

Overall, the existence of different programming languages allows for greater flexibility and choice for developers and users alike. Each language has its own strengths and weaknesses. By having a variety of options available, developers can choose the language that best suits their needs for a particular project.

Why are There Different Programming Languages? was originally found on Access 2 Learn

Walter Wimberly

Assistant Professor

Walter Wimberly is an Assistant Professor at a regional college in Tennessee, teaching Computer Science in the Software Engineering track. He works as a student advisor, oversees curriculum changes, develops new courses, and manages the advisory panel.
Walter taught full time for about 7 years, before going back into “industry” as a full stack Software Developer for a dozen years. There he focused on web based projects coding in JavaScript/jQuery and utilizing the Bootstrap CSS Framework on the front-end, and coding in PHP, ASP/ASP.Net, SQL on the back-end.

Since he loves teaching, he taught as an adjunct web and digital media classes for eight (8) years, while working in industry, and has since returned to teaching full time.

He has been married for over 25 years, and is father to several special needs boys. As such, he is working on some projects to help others who have special needs to be self-sufficient, and support the care givers of those with special needs. Check out his Autism blog for more info.

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