Programming Languages

Programming Languages brucehoult has used:

Timeline Graph

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

AppleSoft BASIC

Fortran

Pascal

Assembly

VAX BASIC

COBOL

Forth

Modula-2

LISP

BCPL

PostScript

PL/I

C++

Oberon

Dylan

Objective-C

bash

Perl

Java

Ruby

Python

Javascript

AppleSoft BASIC

1979–1984

Not my first language! Did FORTRAN and HP and TI programmable calculators first.

Fortran

1980

At high school

Pascal

1980–2000

My first introduction was Apple's UCSD Pascal on the Apple ][, then in 1981 NBS Pascal and Omni Pascal on the PDP-11, 1982 VAX Pascal, 1984 Turbo Pascal, 1987 THINK Pascal, 1987 MPW Pascal, 1994 CodeWarrior Pascal. Used in Parallel with C++ for half a decade.

Assembly

1980–

Have done almost everything popular except x86. 1980: 6502, 1981: Z80 and PDP11, 1982: VAX, 1983: Z8000, 1984: 6809 and 68000, 1994: PowerPC, 1999: MIPS, 2006: ARM and Thumb.

VAX BASIC

1981–1984

Used this for quick&dirty things on he VAXen at University. Years include BASIC PLUS on the PDP-11, which isn't an option.

1982–

University was Pascal/Modula2 on VAXen, but there was a C compiler, plus a Zilog System 8000 running Unix in '83. Have never stopped since. A reasonable portable assembly language.

COBOL

1982–1983

At university in 1982, and then, conveniently, commercially for a summer holiday job 1982/1983.

Forth

1983–

Have used a variety of FORTH-like languages, and even created my own. Started with STOIC on a VAX in 1983, and quite a lot of Postscript from 1985 onwards.

Modula-2

1983–1994

Modula-2 always seemed like a better Pascal, but never really took off commercially.

LISP

1983–

1983 Franz Lisp on a VAX. Emacs Lisp since 1997. Scheme from time to time.

BCPL

1983–1984

In many ways, I actually prefer BCPL to K&R C (but not ANSI or C++). I still have the manual.

PostScript

1985–

In my first job I needed to produce business graphics. There was an HP plotter driven by SAS but it was crap. We got the first Apple LaserWriter and hooked it to the Data General minicomputer and I wrote PoastScript by hand, and generated it from PL/I programs. I haven't stopped using it since -- still the best way to generate graphics on Linux and OSX.

PL/I

1985–1987

In my first job my first task was to buy a compiler for the Data General MV10000 -- the choices were FORTRAN, COBOL, or PL/I. The choice was easy...

C++

1988–

I'd been following the language and CFront development on BIX for several years, and was very excited by the language. I bought Zortech C++ as soon as it came out. In 1989 Apple released their CFront port and I switched from Pascal for all my work. By late 1992 I was already becoming frustrated with the limitations and learned about Apple's new "Dylan" language.

Oberon

1989

I remember playing with the ETH release for the Mac. The language seemed like a worthwhile improvement on Modula-2 (and Pascal), but the integrated editing/execution environment was much more interesting! An incredibly fast compiler at the time, and produced good code too.

Dylan

1994–

Got the free book in 1992, and then Apple's developer release for 68k (and then PowerPC). Used the "Marlais" interpreter too. Joined the team maintaining the open-sourced Gwydion Dylan in late 1998. Have used Dylan to enter the ICFP programing contest from 2000 - 2008, winning prizes in 2001, 2003, and 2005.

Objective-C

1997–

I'd followed the development of NeXT with interest, and even played with one in 1989, but didn't get to really play with Objective C++ at home until a developer release of Rhapsody for PowerPC Macs in 1997.

bash

1997–

I started playing with Linux on a Pentium 60 and Solaris on a SPARC ELC.

Perl

1997–

Learned for a consulting job. Still write at least one 1-liner every day.

Java

1998–

Got hired on a short term contract to do C++ programming, arrived and was told I'd be doing Java instead. Hilarity ensued. Later helped write a static compiler for J2ME.

Ruby

2001–

In April 2001 I visited Chicago. The guy I was staying with handed me the Ruby book, I handed him a Dylan book... I still prefer Perl for quick&dirty but Ruby is at least better than Python.

Python

2002–

Mostly just tweaking existing programs e.g. SCONS. I prefer Perl for quick&dirty, Dylan for real programs.

Javascript

2009–

Tweaked existing things before this, but didn't seriously learn the language until working at Mozilla.