March 2008 - Posts

• Archaic Arrays

  Should arrays get axed from future languages? In some ways the question is shocking. Arrays have been built into programming languages since ancient times. Arrays provide the foundation for many data structures and form the subject of an entire chapter Read More... Posted Wednesday, March 19, 2008 7:32 PM by hermanventer | 0 Comments

• Evolution versus Intelligent Design in Programming Languages

  I suspect that most people involved in the creation of programming languages like to think of themselves as (intelligent) designers. We have the Programming Language Design and Implementation conference, programming language designers, design documents, Read More... Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:23 AM by hermanventer | 0 Comments

• Is there a contract in your future?

  In my previous posting I speculated that compile time type checkers as we know them today may fall by the wayside in favor of something that looks and feels a lot more like the dynamically typed languages. One of the statements I made, “ If you store Read More... Posted Wednesday, March 05, 2008 10:58 AM by hermanventer | 1 Comments

• Will the next champion be a dynamically typed language?

  In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in dynamically typed languages, with quite a lot of buzz about JavaScript, Python and Ruby. Could it be that one of these languages will rise to be the champion of the next decade? I would be a bit Read More... Posted Tuesday, March 04, 2008 11:48 AM by hermanventer | 0 Comments

• Will there be many domain specific champions rather than a few general purpose champions?

  In previous posts, I’ve speculated that one of the necessary ingredients for the ascent of a new “champion” programming language is that the overall computing market should expand significantly. This seems to have been the case in the past, but will the Read More... Posted Monday, March 03, 2008 11:09 AM by hermanventer | 0 Comments