The Future of Computer Programming :: Essays Papers

The Future of Computer Programming Computers are probably the most important invention of this century if not of all time. Right now people use computers for just about everything in the world and they are becoming a necessity in peoples’ lives just as many other new technologies. To say you cannot use a computer this day and age is almost like saying you are illiterate. In order for computers to function and be accessible to people there must be applications or instructions for the computer. In order to make these applications one must write them by programming in a certain computer language. These languages are usually somewhat hard to learn and many people shy away from them. As technology has progressed there has been the development of new and easier programming languages but it is still hard for children and others without much computer experience to learn. Since there is this dilemma in the world today, the many computer scientists and computer experts have come together to discuss new ways of approachin g the problem. One solution to this problem was the development of visual languages such as Visual C++ and Visual Basic. There also new languages being developed and improved on such as XML and Ruby. Many other languages are being developed at this moment and someday there will be languages simple enough for everyone to use. The first form of programming appeared about the same time as the invention of one of the first computers in 1942, known as the ENIAC. Programming for this was very tedious and required the setting of switches and rewiring of wires. Programming for this computer progressed after some time but took a major turn in 1957 when the first of the many major languages came about known as FORTRAN. FORTRAN was good at scientific programming, but it had no help on the business world. In 1959 a new language called COBOL came about and it became known as the programming language for businesses. In 1958 a language was developed that would have a huge effect on the programming industry. A scientific committee came up with the Algol language which led to creation of the popular languages we have today like C, C++, Java, and Pascal. In 1964 one of the first attempts at making a language for non-computer science people was developed by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz called BASIC. In 1972 C was created b y Dennis Ritchie and probably has had the biggest effect on computer of all the languages.