Programming languages have evolved like fashion trends—over 8,500 have appeared since the 1840s, from Ada Lovelace’s pioneering algorithms for Babbage’s Analytical Engine to today’s Python and Rust. The history highlights visionaries ahead of their time, like Konrad Zuse’s Plankalkül, and survivors like Fortran and COBOL that still power science and business decades later. C reshaped the field in the 1970s, while others like Pascal and Perl faded when they couldn’t adapt. Modern giants like Python and JavaScript thrive thanks to accessibility, strong communities, and perfect timing. The lesson: adaptability, simplicity, and community support keep languages alive, while nostalgia isn’t enough. Looking ahead, AI and quantum computing may spark the next big shift—maybe even “quantum emoji.”
In 1947, Kathleen Booth created Assembly, the first real programming language, freeing coders from pure binary. The 1950s brought Fortran for math and science, and COBOL for business, both still lingering today. The 1960s gave us BASIC, meant for everyone, and in 1972 Dennis Ritchie’s C revolutionized computing by powering Unix and, later, SQL. The 1980s added C++, improving on C with object-oriented programming. Then came the 1990s boom: Java (portable and powerful), JavaScript (web king), PHP (early web backbone), Visual Basic (GUI coding), and R (statistics). Quietly, Python was also born in 1991, later exploding into today’s most popular, beginner-friendly powerhouse. Together, these languages shaped modern computing, with Python, Java, and JavaScript now leading the pack.
Programming languages grew out of humanity’s need to talk to massive early computers, starting with Fortran for scientists and COBOL for business. Then came C, the foundation of modern operating systems, and C++, which introduced object-oriented “Lego-brick” coding for big software. The internet age brought Java (“write once, run anywhere”), JavaScript (built in 10 days, now the web’s heartbeat), and PHP (powering most websites). In today’s era, languages specialize: Go for cloud systems, Rust for safe speed, Swift and Kotlin for mobile apps. But the modern standouts are Python (the Swiss Army knife of coding and king of AI) and R (the statistics powerhouse). The key takeaway? There’s no single “best” language — just the right tool for the problem you want to solve.
Programming languages range from low-level ones like Assembly and C, which talk directly to hardware, to high-level ones like Python and JavaScript, which trade raw speed for readability and ease of use. Over time, languages evolved to solve specific problems: C++ for large systems, Java for cross-platform apps, PHP and Ruby for the web, Swift and Kotlin for mobile, Go and Rust for safe, fast modern systems, SQL and R for data, and many others for niches from AI (Lisp, Prolog) to embedded systems (Forth, Assembly). The key takeaway? There’s no single “best” language — just the right one for the job you want to do.
From Ada Lovelace’s first algorithms and Assembly in the 1840s to today’s Python, JavaScript, Rust, and beyond, programming languages have constantly reshaped how humans talk to machines. Each era brought new tools — Fortran and COBOL powering science and business, C and C++ building operating systems and 3D worlds, Java and Python opening global and human-friendly coding, JavaScript ruling the web, and modern newcomers like Go, Swift, Kotlin, and Rust solving today’s challenges. The story of languages is really the story of adaptability, creativity, and entire revolutions in how technology evolves.
Let's Take a look at the EVOLUTION of CODING. This focuses on how we've evolved as programmers vs the actual languages themselves
For those of you that would love more information, and updated through 2022, take a look. This is completely extra, so it is not required, but I'd take a look and maybe skip around a bit so you can see how you're standing on the shoulders of giants...
This will talk about Langues needing a COMPILER and Languages that are INTERPRETED