Extra Credit: Programming Languages Timeline

Plankalkul was developed by Konrad Zuse. It was the first complete high level language, and was way ahead of it's time, it couldn't even be used on any computers at the time. It simplifies the machine code yet flopped because it was released during wartime. The name Plankalkul is German for "Plan Calculus".

FORTRAN was developed by John Backus. It's primary purpose was to help scientists and engineers with their projects, such as designing bridges or for factory automation. The name FORTRAN is derived from Formula Translation.

MATH-MATIC was developed by Charles Katz under Grace Hopper. It was used on the UNIVAC I for mathematical computer applications. MATH-MATIC is the marketing name for AT-3 or Algebraic Translator 3.

Lisp was developed by John McCarthy. It's primary purpose is to be easily used to manipulate data strings and for many different projects including servers and even animation. The name Lisp is derived from List Processing.

COBOL was developed by Dr. Grace Murray Hopper. It's main purpose was to be a user-friendly business software program. COBOL stands for COmmon Business - Oriented Language.

RPG was developed by IBM. Its a high level language for business applications that was originally used on punched card machines. RPG stands for Report Program Generator.

BASIC was developed by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz. The primary purpose of the language was to be easy for everyone to learn programming and use daily, and used to be available on every computer. BASIC is an acronym for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.

LOGO was developed by Wally Feirzeig, Cynthia Solomon, and Seymour Papert. Its a dialect of Lisp and its primary purpose is to be able to be used by novices and create presentations, games, and simulations. LOGO is not an acronym, but was derived from the Greek word logos, which means thought.

B was developed by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie. The primary purpose was not for numeric computations but for system development. The language is a simpler replacement for assembly language programs and works almost as efficiently. It was derived from BCPL, which is where its name comes from.

PASCAL was developed by Niklaus Wirth. The primary purpose of the language is to teach more systematic and structured programming, and to make more efficient and reliable programs. The name is not an acronym, however it is named to honor french mathematician Blaise Pascal.

C was developed by Dennis Ritchie. It's primary purpose was to perform tasks and operate UNIX (an operating system that allowed many users to share common computing resources). Today its in personal computers for developing software applications.The name C was chosen because it was the succeeding program to B.

ML was developed by Robin Milner and his colleges at the University of Edinburgh. It's used widely among compiler writers for language design and manipulation. The name ML stands for Meta Language.

SQL was developed by Donald D. Chamberlain and Raymond F. Boyce. Its main purpose was to manage data held in a RDBMS (relational database management system) and structured data. SQL stands for Structured Query Language.

C++ was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup. Stroustrup said the primary purpose for this language is to make good program writing easier. Its an intermediate level language, and used aspects of the classes from SIMULA (a program that was very slow but good for large projects) and the speed from C to help it become a widely used program. C++ was derived from C, and was originally called "C with classes", but has the pluses because it was considered a step up from C.

ADA was originally developed in the early 1980s (couldn't find specific year) by Dr. Jean Ichbiah. The language is a high level OOP that is internationally standardized and a general purpose programming language for jobs ranging widely from air traffic control to automated manufacturing systems. It is not an acronym, but the name was chosen to honor Ada Lovelace, a mathematician widely recognized as the first programmer.

Python was developed by Guido van Rossum. It is a high level general purpose program with a large standard library. The name Python came from Rossum reading the script for "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and he thought it was catchy.

Visual Basic was developed by Alan Cooper. It is a graphical user interface and allows for software interface and codes to be created. It's called Visual Basic because it has a brand name deal with Microsoft, and it uses the programming language BASIC to function.

PHP was developed by Rasmus Lerderf. The primary purpose was to design simple web applications and even interact with databases. The name PHP stands for Personal Home Page, because in the very beginning it was used as a tool for tracking who visited web pages.

Delphi was developed by the company Borland. Its a high level language, an OOP as well as an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) designed to develop applications whether for mobile applications or for database solutions. Its named Delphi after the Delphi in Greek mythology, who you had to go through to get to the Oracle, and when the language was released, the oracle was a widespread database management system.

Java was developed by James Gosling. It's an OOP that's primary purpose is to develop applications and cross platform applications. The language was originally called Oak after a tree by Gosling's house, but was then named Java after Java coffee.

Javascript was developed by Brendan Eich. It is a client-side language thats primary purpose is to add elements to web browsers. The original name was Mocha, but was then changed to Javascript, supposedly after Java, although the two languages are only distantly related.