Reading05

    This is way above my pay grade, so please take everything I say lightly. I was surprised to hear how big an impact LISP made on what many would consider today’s ‘need to know’ languages like Python and Java. After reading these essays, the first thing that came to mind was power vs popularity. LISP was created in the late 50s, yet according to the reading, LISP shares many of the main features of Python and Java with additional exclusive features. LISP had the power, yet Python and Java are more popular at least to the average person. Why don’t we just go back and use LISP, if everything is a child of LISP? Python and Java are also fairly new, so why are they used? In the last group of essays, something that I never realized was how impactful American culture has been on computing. Because programming is an American-bred and raised thing, I think it is natural for people to look at the newest thing, but how long will that last? It seems like every language is just a new trend. 

    There are a lot of questions that I don't have the answers to. However, I believe, that for the future of computing, I do not think there will be a time when only one 'best' programming language is used, even now that is not the case. Python and Java are similar but there are times when I would use one over the other. For example, when dealing with data I would probably use Python, but that does not mean that it is better than Java overall. Certain languages are known to be used for certain things.  What makes a coding language ‘better’ is dependent on the goal that you are trying to achieve. ‘Better’ may be faster in some cases and easier to understand in others. I do not know enough about the ins and outs of different languages and I know my previous statements will contradict this, but some are simply more capable than others in all aspects. He gave the example that FORTRAN could not handle recursion like LISP can. This is just one example, so yes from that standpoint I think some are better than others because they can do things that others cannot do. I would like to point out, that hardware has a big impact on all of this, so while the coding language may be equipt, if the hardware isn't then it will seem as though the language does not have it.

    I think that it is safe to say that different programming languages are being created because there was something that was missing in another language. Because of this, there is a sense of uniqueness to each language out there. Furthermore, when doing certain jobs it may be easier to do specific things with a certain language. It won't be the general best programming language, but the best programming language for developing apps or managing data, etc. I feel like in the future, there will be no fear that people will stop trying to create the one best language that will persist through time.  It goes against the nature of hard-headed hackers meaning that they will continue to try to create the perfect programming language. Although I do not think it is possible, just give it to a hacker to figure out the impossible, that is just what hackers do.

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