The C language, which was developed in the early 1970s by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs, was designed for system programming and to provide low-level access to machine memory. Additionally, it is used for developing operating systems, embedded systems, and compilers as it is able to uniquely interact with hardware. 

C is currently widely used for developing applications, system software, embedded systems, and performance-critical applications such as databases and real-time systems. These systems rely on C's speed and scalability when handling large amounts of data. C is also a compiled language, typically converted to machine code using compilers like GCC (Mac). 

Lastly, this language was not originally built to be an open-source language but more of a standardized language. However, you can still use C with many open-source libraries and projects that are built on top of it. 

Python, which was developed in the late 1980s by Guido van Rossum and was first released in 1991, was designed to be a high-level and easy-to-read and write language, emphasizing code readability and simplicity. It is commonly used for web development, data analysis, artificial intelligence, and scientific computing.

Python is primarily interpreted, though there are implementations that compile Python code to bytecode (for example, PyPy).

Lastly, it is an open-source language, governed by the Python Software Foundation, and has a large community of developers. 

Scala, which was developed by Martin Odersky and was first released in 2003, was designed to be a scalable language that combines object-oriented and functional programming, providing a more concise syntax while still being compatible with Java.

It is often used for web applications and data processing, and is popular in big data frameworks widely used by data engineers. Scala is a compiled language, running on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and can also compile to JavaScript.

This language is also an open-source language with an extensive framework, governed by the Scala Center. The Scala Center is a non-profit that focuses on developing Scala open source libraries and other language tools. 

R, which was developed in the early 1990s by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman at the University of Auckland, was designed for statistical computing and data analysis, providing tools for statistical modeling and graphics.

It is primarily used in data analysis, statistical modeling, data visualization, data mining, and academic research. R is most popular among statisticians, data scientists, and data engineers. 

R is an interpreted language, allowing for interactive use and real-time data analysis.

Lastly, R is an open-source language, and its development is coordinated by the R Foundation for Statistical Computing, with tons of packages available from the foundation.