Why are there so many computer languages?

[symbolipoint]

Again, the issue is NOT the question, it is the opinionated formulation of the question. Had you just asked "why are there so many computer languages" all would have been well, but you didn't do that. You made an uninformed value judgement that there are too many languages.

Too picky. He really wants to know, why SO MANY languages for programming.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Anyone try coding a website in C++? You'll soon figure out why web languages were developed

 

[symbolipoint]

Yes, I chose wrong words. I wanted to ask actually so many but the number for me is also too many. Yes this is an opinion I didn't realized so. For somebody number might be too less. But it is whether "too many" or "so many" does not they convey very similar idea here? And there is an negative effect of being non native when using words. May I change the title?

Thank you.

Some people forget that they themselves are not machines. (Or maybe they/we are machines; just very very complicated machines).

 

[phinds]

"Too many languages" is very different than "so many languages".

I think the original title was "too many" but in any case, the content of the post was "Why are there too much computer language?"

At any rate, all this nitpicking (mostly mine) about the wording of the question is somewhat beside the point, which is that there are very understandable (and usually good) reasons why there are a ton of computer languages.

 

[Asymptotic]

Because no one language can be perfect in all aspects, there are many extreme trade-offs that make some languages much better for particular applications than others. That's just the way it is with the current state of the art. Your desire to consolidate and reduce the number of languages is almost universally shared. Many languages are gradually being used less often.

I'll take what @FactChecker said and extend it to PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) languages. All are proprietary although the five basic flavors have been codified as an IEC standard.

1. LD - Ladder logic
2. FBD - Function Block Diagram
   
3. SFC - Sequential Function Chart
4. IL - Instruction List
   
5. ST - Structured Text

IL and ST more closely resemble traditional computer programming languages. IL can be thought of as "assembly language for PLCs" while ST has similarities with C, BASIC, and other high level computer languages.

LD, SFC, and FBC are strongly graphical/visual in nature. SFC isn't very far removed from computer program flowcharting. Writing in LD is similar to sketching a relay circuit schematic, and while FBD is also connection-based, programming in it resembles creating logic gate schematics from the heyday of 7400 series discrete IC logic chips.

The first generation tended to be ladder (Modicion took this route) or instruction list (Omron, and Koyo, and by extension, the GE series one and Texas Instruments PLC offerings, which were both made by Koyo). Ladder was popular among industrial electrical engineers and techs because it closely resembled the physical circuits they were already familiar with, and it tended to be easier to troubleshoot than IL. Ladder becomes progressively less well suited as program complexity increases at about the same rate as ST becomes more desirable. Several PLC languages can be edited with elements from both general themes - LD/FBD/SFC where they are more appropriate, and ST (IL is becoming increasingly vestigial) where LD/FBD/SFC don't have the necessary "heft".

Exactly how logic created in a PLC programming environment is translated to machine code running on the underlying computer hardware is often shrouded in proprietary secrecy. One exception that comes to mind were Opto 22 Mistic controllers programmed using their Cyrano flowchart-based software (BTW - Opto 22 developed the first flowchart-based PLC software thus presaging SFC). What the user created as a flowchart was converted to FORTH on it's way to becoming machine executable code.

 

[Laurie K]

If you are looking at software longevity then software developed in MS Visual Foxpro 6.0, released in 18 May 1998, will still run in Windows 10, although you can only generate MS Visual Foxpro 6.0 programs in Windows XP.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...0/db13b4c7-7824-4964-be40-b81bceab5fa7?auth=1