Programming - what do you know?

[Lakshmipathi]

I have voted for C/C++/Java/Shell/Assembly and other would be PHP.
Though I haven't worked with C++/Java/Assembly/PHP for more than a year now...

Even after 40 years,C still rocks this world

[Cabhan]

I'm not surprised by C's popularity. Particularly on Linux, it is still a very common language for application development.

I know C, C++, Perl, Java, Bash scripting, Scheme, Ruby, MIPS assembly, PHP, and JavaScript.

As far as Scheme and Lisp go, they are very popular in academia because they are functional languages, which is closely tied to something called the lambda calculus. Lambda calculus is very popular for proving things about algorithms, so if you're into that, Lisp and Scheme are nice.

However, from my perspective, the languages are next to useless. I find their syntax very distracting, and the languages are unused by anybody outside of academia, so there are no useful libraries. If you like functional programming (which is incredibly useful and powerful, don't get me wrong), you can do it in Perl, Ruby, or just about any other modern language with ease.

Assembly, as one of my professors explained, is a language in which you should only write a single program. I only know MIPS, which is basically a teaching language now, but the concepts and rules in assembly programming are very useful for understanding the design of C and other languages. It helps you understand why design choices were made as they were.

[chigurh]

I was really surprised by the fact that almost 100% of voters voted for C, not really that it was popular. It was 100% for a while, now it's still 90+. I also just voted for C++ so I could see the poll without clicking anything using this new username. I know a decent amount of it.

[Jonathan183]

As far as Scheme and Lisp go, they are very popular in academia because they are functional languages, which is closely tied to something called the lambda calculus. Lambda calculus is very popular for proving things about algorithms, so if you're into that, Lisp and Scheme are nice.

However, from my perspective, the languages are next to useless. I find their syntax very distracting, and the languages are unused by anybody outside of academia, so there are no useful libraries. If you like functional programming (which is incredibly useful and powerful, don't get me wrong), you can do it in Perl, Ruby, or just about any other modern language with ease.

Lisp has been used with a few applications, Autocad for instance used a version of Lisp a number of years ago (I think they have moved on since ... but I used Lisp with Autocad about 15 years or so ago).

[chigurh]

The computer algebra system maxima is written in lisp - you use lisp to use it, too ... it's not one of those types that are their own language, it just uses lisp.

[Rubberman]

Years ago I did a LOT of programming in DIBOL (now DBL). I think it was DEC's idea of what COBOL should have been. Anyway, that's how I got started in software development for manufacturing systems. My last major project in that domain was in C++ for a semiconductor-oriented MES that now runs about 80% of the 300mm fabs world wide. That code base is now owned by Applied Materials. I also developed a lot of manufacturing cell control frameworks and systems in C.

My favorite programming language? Probably C++ for its combination of power, expression, performance, and capability.

My least favorite language? Probably the infamous "Business Basic". It has to be one of the most unreadable languages ever used for non-trivial applications. Unfortunately, I had to maintain some serious applications written in it back in the mid-80's. Visual Basic is a close second least favorite.

Favorite quickie hack? Writing a cassette operating system for my wife's uncle's Commodore VIC computer in BASIC while sitting at his breakfast table one vacation. Took me less than 2 days and he used it for years to help manage his sheep farm. He wrote the applications in BASIC, and ran them off the cassette, along with the data storage.

[carlosponti]

i work in pl/sql and power builder where i work.