Technology
What Languages Fix
paulgraham.com
Technology
1 min read → 35 sec
Programming languages can be understood by the specific weakness they corrected in earlier languages. The piece maps language families as chains of fixes, from lower-level control to safer syntax, richer types, objects, arrays, and accessibility.
Programming languages make sense as fixes for earlier languages.
A language's niche is the gap it first filled for early users.
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Many languages spread by fixing what earlier languages lacked.
They felt less scary, less kludgy, or more capable.
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Language lineages often form chains of fixes.
Assembly led to Fortran, C, C++, and Java.
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Assembly was too low-level for several successors.
INDEX
001
Fortran fixed that.
002
Algol fixed that.
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C fixed that.
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Algol and Fortran lacked enough data types.
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Pascal fixed that.
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PL/1 fixed that.
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Some languages fixed narrow technical limits.
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Modula fixed Pascal for systems programming.
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Simula fixed Algol for simulations.
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APL fixed Fortran for array manipulation.
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Later fixes kept narrowing the gap.
INDEX
001
Smalltalk fixed Simula by making everything an object.
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J fixed APL requiring its own character set.
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One chain runs through C, C++, Java, and C#.
INDEX
001
C++ fixed C being too low-level.
002
Java fixed C++ being a kludge.
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C# fixed Java being controlled by Sun.
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Basic, Cobol, Javascript, and Python spread by feeling less scary than earlier languages.
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