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Why do they keep making new languages (lemmy.stonansh.org)

submitted 1 year ago by lemmy@lemmy.stonansh.org to c/programming@programming.dev

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Why are there so many programming languages? And why are there still being so many made? I would think you would try to perfect what you have instead of making new ones all the time. I understand you need new languages sometimes like quantumcomputing or some newer tech like that. But for pc you would think there would be some kind of universal language. I'm learning java btw. I like programming languages. But was just wondering.

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[–] TheCee@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

That sentence seems correct. As for your question, you'd rather have to ask yourself: When would you pay for a programming language?

Back in the old days before internet and commodity hardware, before easy distribution, before non-trivial software, before basic compiler knowledge was common people were easily impressed, so naturally you could sell your compiler for primitive grug BASIC.

Today, that situation is different. A language by itself is meaningless, a risk, even, in some ways. A while back some developer of REM Objects was bitching about in the old aggregator on how nobody wanted to spend money on their special proprietary BASIC. Like it was just another product. They don't know ~~how to use a computer~~ how programming languages work. This extends to even finding users willing to use your stuff for free. I don't want to knock on REM Objects in particular, you know you could add way more examples like Seed7, every lisper ever etc., but let's get into why people pay for programming languages.

extreme vendor lock-in of platform, hardware, whatever (but you almost always have your language bundled with something else in the first place, because...)
the point is a feature beyond the language (think matlab, labview, SAP, Excel or Coldfusion 8bitguy mentioned)
dubious support contracts (think Oracle JDK)
enthusiasts you can milk for life support and dumbfucks that fall for your next gen graph AI DSL whatever bla
extremely great developer experience (but we live in an age where megacorps create languages and infrastructure for improved experience for free, so, good luck with that these days)