Programming Language Timeline

By neckhoff

  • Plankalkul

    A German programming language that translates to "Plan Calculus." Developed by Konrad Zuse. It was designed for engineering purposes, and was the first high level programming language to be designed for a computer. Source

  • FORTRAN

    FORmula TRANslation was developed in the 1950s by a team of IBM programmers and released in 1957. It was specially developed to let the computer execute number crunching operations. It was the first high level code, where people didn't have to directly deal with 1s and 0s. Source

  • MATH-MATIC

    MATH-MATIC is the marketing name for the AT-3 (Algebraic Translator 3) compiler. AT-3 was an early programming language for the UNIVAC 1 and UNIVAC 2. AT-3 was developed by Charles Katz and Grace Hopper. Source

  • RPG

    A proprietary programming language developed by IBM for business applications. Stands for Report Program Generator. Created to replicate punch card processing. It is one of the few programs that was created for punch cards that is still in use today. Source

  • COBOL

    Common Business Oriented Language is a high-level programming language, developed by the Conference on Data Systems Languages. It was the first popular language designed to be operating system agnostic and is still in used today. Designed for Finance, Human Resources and other business computer programs. Source
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  • LISP

    Developed by John McCarthy at MIT and founded on the mathematical theory of recursive functions. Considered a function applied to data rather than sequential steps. Is a common language used in AI programming because the AI could learn from it. Source

  • LOGO

    A simplified form of LISP that was used to teach mathematical thinking. It was developed by Wally Feurzeig, Seymour Papert, and Cynthia Solomon. It features "turtle graphics," a simple way of generating computer graphics. The graphics used body-centered instructions. Source

  • B

    Designed by DM Ritchie and KL Tompson for primarily non-numeric applications. Typically involved complex logical decision-making, and processing of integers, characters, and bit strings. Usually easier to write and understand that assembly language programs. Source

  • PASCAL

    A high level procedural programming language widely used as a language to learn general programming concepts. Developed by Niklaus Wirth, PASCAL was named after Blaise Pascal, a French mathematicican. Pascal was responsible for a series of discoveries and invented the calculator. Knowing PASCAL helps learn C. Source
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  • C

    Powerful and Widely used language created by Dennis Ritchie. Forms the basis for Java and C++. A basic language (no frills, no GUIs, no Matrix processing abilities, and very little file I/O support. Source

  • ML

    Stands for Meta Language developed by a team headed by Robin Milner at the University of Edinburgh. Has roots in LISP, and is known for its use of the polymorphic Hindley-Milner type system. One of the few languages to be completely specified and verified using formal semantics. Source

  • SQL

    Stands for Structured Query Language. Developed by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce, designed to manage data in a relational database management system. Source

  • Ada

    Started with Ada83 by Dr. Jean Ichbiah @ CII-Honeywell-Bull in France. Revised and enhanced in the 90s under the leadership of Mr. Tucker Taft @ Intermetrics in the US (Ada95) "Ada" is in honor of Augusta Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), a mathematician who is regarded as the world's first programmer. Source

  • C++

    An extension of the C language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup. Considered to be an intermediate level language. Is a collection of predefined classes, which are data types that can be instantiated multiple times. Source

  • Python

    Developed by Guido Van Rossum. It is an interpreted, object-oriented, high-level programming language with dynamic semantics. Has simple, easy to learn syntax that emphasizes readability and reduces the cost of program maintenance. Source
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  • Visual Basic

    A third generation programming language from Microsoft for their Component Object Model. Uses drag and drop techniques. Source

  • PHP

    Created by Rasmus Lerdorf at Zend Technologies. A widely-used open source scripting language that is usually used for web development and can be embedded into HTML. Originally stood for Original Home Page, but now stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. Source
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  • Delphi

    Delphi, often referred to as Delphi Pascal, is a product of Borland as a high level language that is used to develop applications. Used on Windows and Linux. Delphi resembles Visual Basic. Source

  • Java

    James Gosling and his team of developers created Java to program in English based commands instead of numeric codes. Java was originally designed for mobile phones, however, its main focus switch to the internet when it was released to the public. Built on C++ and one of the most secure languages out there since it was originally designed for mobile phones. Source

  • JavaScript

    JavaScript is a "lightweight" coding language created by Brendan Eich, and used mainly in website developments. While the names sounds like it came from Java, JavaScript is not part of the Java language, but instead based off of it. Source
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