The Evolution of Programming Languages

Computer programming is the backbone of the digital world we live in today. Whenever you like a post on social media or send an email, a programming language is behind the scenes to make it happen.

Assembly languages utilize mnemonics to represent each low-level machine instruction, opcode, directive, and architectural register and flag. An assembler program converts these into machine-specific code by examining the operands. 

Throughout the fascinating evolution of programming languages, students and enthusiasts have relied on homework help programming services to grasp the intricacies of diverse coding paradigms and language structures. Platforms like codebeach.com serve as invaluable companions, offering comprehensive resources and expert guidance, empowering individuals to stay ahead in the ever-changing landscape of programming languages and embrace the full potential of these powerful tools for innovation and problem-solving.

Assembly Language

During the first generation of computer programming, instructions were written in machine language — binary code consisting of 0’s and 1’s that directly translated into the on-and-off states of electricity moving through a processor’s physical circuits. The next step up was assembly language, which simplified the complex instruction set of machine language by using mnemonics to represent each low-level machine instruction or opcode and its directives.

These second-generation languages allowed faster development and more reliable programs than their first-generation counterparts. They were also easier to read and write, as they could express the same concepts in symbolic form rather than binary.

The 1990s were marked by a lack of fundamental new paradigms in imperative languages, although several new features did emerge. Among the more notable was the rise of scripting languages, which enabled developers to fashion applications that could be run on any device connected to the internet, such as web browsers and mobile devices.

The 1990s also saw the emergence of object-oriented programming and multiple other advanced concepts, such as modularization, which can be used to create more robust software. During this time, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center created Smalltalk, which made it possible to modify program code on the fly and introduced many aspects that are now common in modern languages.

Fortran

In the 1950s, John Backus created Fortran (formula translation), a standard programming language that “helped open the door to modern computing.” This high-level program made code understandable to people who knew math and science, transforming it from a complex series of 0s and 1s into a series of human words like add.

The Fortran language also abstracted software from the hardware it ran on, allowing programs to run across various computer systems, something that wasn’t possible with earlier machine code. Fortran is still used for various tasks, including weather modeling, hydrological modeling, computational chemistry and economics, satellite simulation, structural engineering, and data analysis.

While some languages have been able to top Fortran in popularity, the latter has proven its longevity and continues to perform some of the most intensive scientific computations. Fortran is currently ranked 13th on the TIOBE index, which measures computer programming language popularity. Its ranking is higher than that of Python, ranked 22nd in August 2021. Several resources are available to learn Fortran, including free online tutorials and books that receive good reviews from readers. Two options to consider are “Fortran for Scientists and Engineers” by Sheldon Blecher and Valmer Norrod and “Modern Fortran Explained” by Michael Metcalf, John Reid, and Malcolm Cohen.

COBOL

COBOL, short for common business-oriented language, was developed in 1959 and is still used today. It is a machine-independent, high-level programming language that can be compiled and run on different systems and platforms. Its simplicity and standardization made it an extremely popular programming language. It is most often used for developing administration and basic transactional systems, especially on older mainframe computers.

It has a simple, English-like syntax and more than 300 reserved keywords. It is a procedural language with a structured, hierarchical structure and follows a set of rules. It can also handle massive data processing, making it ideal for business applications. It is self-documenting and easy to read, even for non-technical people.

The designers of COBOL broke with the terse syntax of other programming languages at that time (such as FORTRAN) in order to make it more readable for business professionals, particularly those in accounting and finance. While the verbosity of the language might be surprising to modern software developers accustomed to the more concise syntax of languages like Python, the designers were motivated by the same conceit that code is read many times more than it is written. As such, they aimed to make the code as clear and concise as possible without losing efficiency or functionality.