The
Semicolon Wars by
Brian Hayes talks about the surge of programming languages since the first one was
invented, and how the community is constantly evolving and trying to find the be-all
and end-all programming language. While I understand the notion of how having
a standardized programming language would be useful, I think the system we have
now is better, and I don’t see a single language making a difference in how we
understand programming.
For one, we
currently have multiple programming paradigms, which are each more useful than
others depending on what we’re trying to achieve. If we only used one
programming language, it would have to encompass each and every one of these
paradigms, and it would get very complex, very fast. This would make it very difficult
to know everything about the language, and most people would focus on only some
parts of it, which isn’t too different to having multiple languages to choose
from.
Secondly,
the article makes a very good point comparing programming and human languages,
and it mentions that humans think differently depending on what language they
speak. As mentioned in the article, this also applies to paradigms, and I would
assume that it applies to programming languages as well to some extent.
By having
so many choices, it’s also easier for people with different mindsets to get
into programming easily. Having only one language would limit the amount of people
that go into the field, and I think that would overall cause more harm than the
good a single language could give us.
On a more
personal note, I enjoy learning new languages and tinkering with the quirks of
each one. I know that as time passes and more languages are created, we will probably
get closer to one that will be able to do anything we tell it to. And if that
day comes, I will most likely use it. However, in the meantime, I will continue
to experiment with anything I can get my hands on, and I will be very happy while
I do it.
Source:
Hayes, Brian. The Semicolon Wars (2006)
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