The Challenge of Programming Language Design

Abstract

What makes a programming language successful? If we study the history of this field one quickly comes to the conclusion that success is not based strictly on technical merit. In the early days of computing FORTRAN was sponsored by a major computer company while the use of COBOL was mandated by the largest user of computers, the U.S. Department of Defense. No doubt these sponsorships helped greatly. But, though LISP has had no major industrial supporters, it has continued to have an enthusiastic group of users, especially in the artificial intelligence community. And Pascal, which was developed as a teaching tool, is fast becoming the standard language available on microprocessors and the major language taught in academic departments of computer science. On the other hand PL/1 did not succeed to the extent it was originally hoped, despite the fact that it had influential backers. So, as it is in many fields, there is no one formula for success. In this chapter, rather than focusing on a formula for success, we will focus on some criteria which can be used to evaluate the quality of any programming language design.

“The camel is a horse designed by a committee.”

Anonymous

“The most important decisions in language design concern what is to be left out.”

Niklaus Wirth