As if we didn't have enough programming languages, we hear about new ones daily. Grouping code languages into object-oriented, imperative, functional, and declarative, may help in

organizing types of languages but it is a formidable task to actually group coding languages into well-defined methodologies or paradigms. Incidentally, it is also notable that the perception of coding languages can be that it is a paradigm of an existing language instead of an entity language. All code eventually ends up as machine language, so one argument is that all programming languages are an inflection of machine code. Nevertheless, no matter what code you use it must, as its last step in execution, translate into machine code.

Recently, I ran across an article about a new language development that was a variant of JavaScript. My first reaction was: How many programming options do we need? After reading the article, and considering the history of programming, I concluded that we need as many as it takes to capture a larger population of human minds whose collective efforts will propel us to the next level. It may take a modification of existing language syntax or a new language to inspire a programmer or group of programmers to write the code that eliminates computer viruses or helps in understanding how to stop diseases or any number of other advancements. The fact is, the more programmers we have the better chances are we can move technology forward at an accelerated rate.

More languages means more knowledge

To understand the evolution of programming code we need only examine the demand for programmers. In computers early existence a programmer had to write code in machine language, which consisted of arduously filling up electronic pages with lines of 0's and 1's. As the demand for programs expanded, the need for more programmers increased and, subsequently, led to the need for engineering programming languages that required less time to write and making the programming process easier. As demand grew the need for programming languages, which were adaptable and quicker to learn, begin to explode. As a consequence, programming tools, code libraries, compilers, and code standards, saw phenomenal growth.

Success in any endeavor can be directly linked to numbers. What better way to increase the number of programmers then making it easier to learn and write code? By making programming languages less difficult to work with you increase the number of people writing programs and successively increase the number and variety of programs available. Today's advanced technology is a direct result of the expansion in the number of programmers writing new and innovative programs. This would not have taken place were it not for coding languages wide accessibility with syntax and code structures less difficult for the programmer to construct.

BASIC is a good example of a how simpler coding language advanced the development of computers and help mold the future of computer technology. The introduction of BASIC was purely for the ease of launching computers into the business and home environment where a user could take advantage of a less complicated but still effective coding language. The BASIC programming structure presented the computer in a way that end users could now explore and invent what a computer could do. BASIC was still too much for an average user to want to learn but it was just enough to capture a tech savvy population that expanded on its ease of use and engineered even more coding platforms that has increasingly grown.

Choice is good

While it is true some languages are better to use in certain applications and the design of others are for a particular or unique application, most programming languages find uses across application boundaries and when deciding on the best code to use you have a number of choices. The decision on which coding to use often depends on the one you are most comfortable with or the one that you have adapted to. In some cases this might mean a variant of a language or a programming structure of several languages.

So the next time you hear about a new language or a variant of an existing language remember that to advance technology we need more programmers writing more advanced code. While it may seem like another spin of the same thing it might very well be what inspires that next great breakthrough in technology.

by Jim Atkins 'thedosmann'

Memphis Web Programming