Programming Languages Timeline

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    Programming Languages Timeline

    By: Alex Johnston
  • Plankalkul

    Plankalkul was developed in 1945 by Konrad Zuse and was designed for engineering purposes. Plankalkul means "Plan Calculus".
  • Fortran

    Fortran was developed in 1957 by John Backus and its primary purpose was to develop a more practical alternative to assembly language for programming the IBM 704 mainframe computer. Acronym-FORmula TRANslating.
  • Math-Matic

    Math-Matic was developed in1957 by Charles Katz. Math-Matic was developed as the early programming language for UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II. It's name doesn't mean anything in particular but is another name for the AT 3 Compiler.
  • LISP

    Lisp was developed in 1958 by John McCarthy. Lisp was created with the primary purpose of serving as a practical mathematical notation for computer programs. Lisp means LISt Processing.
  • COBOL

    COBOL was developed in 1959 by a group known as CODASYL. COBOL's primary purpose was to serve as a primary domain in business, finance, and adminstrative systems for companies or government. COBOL means COmmon Business-Oriented Language.
  • RPG

    RPG was developed in 1959 by IBM. RPG was developed to be a high-level programming language for business applications. RPG means Report Program Generator.
  • BASIC

    BASIC was developed in 1964 by the works of John George Kemeny and Thomas Eugene Kurtz. BASIC was primarily designed as an interactive mainframe timesharing language that provided ease of use. BASIC means Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
  • LOGO

    LOGO was developed in 1967 by the works of Wally Feurzeig and Seymour Papert. LOGO was designed for educational use, specifically constructivist teaching. LOGO does not mean anything but it stems from Greek word logos meaning word.
  • B

    B was developed in 1969 by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie. The original purpose of B was to serve as a computer language intended for non-numeric applications typified system programming. B does not mean anything in particular.
  • C

    C was developed in the year 1969 by Dennis Ritchie. Its primary purpose is to provide constructs which map effectively to typical machine instructions. C does not stand for anything in particular.
  • Pascal

    PASCAL was developed in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth. PASCAL was orginally designed to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring. PASCAL does not mean anything but was named after Blaise Pascal.
  • SQL

    SQL was developed in 1972 by IBM. SQL's primary purpose was to manage data in relational database management systems. SQL means Structured Query Language.
  • ML

    ML was developed in 1973 by Robin Milner. ML was originally designed as a general-purpose functional programming language. ML stands for Meta Language.
  • C++

    C++ was developed in 1979 by Bjarne Stroustrup. The primary purpose of C++ was to allow the addition of object oriented features and other enhancements to the C programming language. The ++ stands for increment operator.
  • Python

    Python was developed in 1989 by Guido van Rossum. Python was originally designed to improve code readability and the name Python does not stand for anything.
  • Java

    Java was developed in 1991 by James Gosling, Miker Sheridan and Patrick Naughton. Java was primarily designed as an object-oriented computer language with few implementation dependencies. Java does not mean anything but was named after Java Coffee.
  • Javascript

    Javascript was developed 1995 by Brendan Eich. Javascript's primary purpose is to create enhanced user interfaces and dynamic websites. Javascript does not stand for anything.
  • Delphi

    Delphi was developed in 1995 by Borlands. Delphi was primarily designed as a native code compiler ran under Windows v3.1 or Windows '95, Delphi does not stand for anything in particular.
  • PHP

    PHP was developed in 1995 by Rasmus Lerdorf. PHP was primarily designed as an open source server-side scripting language used for web development. PHP stands for Hypertext Preprocessor.
  • VISUAL BASIC

    Visual Basic was developed in 1991 by Alan Cooper and Microsoft. Visual Basic was designed to implement Windows applications in an intuitive, graphical environment by dragging controls onto a form. Visual Basic also means Visual Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.