this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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Programming

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Why do they keep making new languages (lemmy.stonansh.org)
submitted 1 year ago by lemmy@lemmy.stonansh.org to c/programming@programming.dev
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Why are there so many programming languages? And why are there still being so many made? I would think you would try to perfect what you have instead of making new ones all the time. I understand you need new languages sometimes like quantumcomputing or some newer tech like that. But for pc you would think there would be some kind of universal language. I'm learning java btw. I like programming languages. But was just wondering.

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[–] stephenc@waveform.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Quite a few languages that are major players now started as hobby languages.

[–] ImpossibleRubiksCube@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

PHP was thrown together as a side project by a Canadian in '93 for his own homepage, and released on Usenet. It grew out of control.

Now it's like the Russian language of the internet--every programmer speaks it, but we all aggressively pretend not to.

And with good reason! But that don't change that we know it.

[–] 0x0@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think PHP has a bad rep 'cos it tried to be everything to everyone... if you maintain a certain standard (i.e. always do the same thing the same way) and avoid deviating it's actually a pretty cool language.

[–] ImpossibleRubiksCube@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Personally I love it because it runs on everything. Its syntax is very far from perfect though.