Most popular languages over the decades

[stevenmw]

I have to compile a simple list of the popular programming languages from the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's.

I've got it all except 2000. In your opinion what would constitute as the most popular programing language for 2000's? It's kind of hard of hard to narrow it down so I was hoping for some help.

Yes, this is a homework assignment, but it got me thinking this might make a good discussion on the forums.

What are some of your favorite languages over the decades? And why? (No that isn't part of the homework, just a question I'm interested in hearing the answer too.)

[tracknut]

I'm curious as to your answers for the 70/80/90's, what language did you pick and why, and by "popular", to you mean "used in the most programs"?

Dave

[stevenmw]

Originally Posted by tracknut

I'm curious as to your answers for the 70/80/90's, what language did you pick and why, and by "popular", to you mean "used in the most programs"?

Dave

Yes, the most widely used.

70's; I picked C (C++ came out in 79 so it didn't really count)
80's; Python and Perl
90's; Java and PHP had a pretty good boom
00's; Was just a repeat. (In 2004 PHP5 came out and was a big hit of course), but most people used the languages from previous times.

For the top five throughout history so far I picked

• Java
• C
• C++
• PHP
• VB

[tracknut]

I'm no historian, but I'd guess that your progression is a decade or two early. In the 70's my guess would be COBOL, maybe FORTRAN. C taking over in the 80's, C++ in the 90's, JAVA in the 2000's. On your top five list I'd replace C++ and VB with COBOL and FORTRAN.

Dave

[stevenmw]

I completely forgot about COBOL. Pascal was pretty big in the 70's too. Ruby was pretty big in the 90's as well.