WEBVTT - TechStuff Episode 300 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.040 tex Stuff from how stuff works dot Com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:22.120 and welcome to the three hundred episode of text Stuff. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:24.240 My name is Chris Poulette and I am an editor 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.960 here at how stuff works dot com and sitting across 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:31.960 from me as usual as senior writer Jonathan Strickland. You 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:42.440 know Jonathan, three episodes madness. This is text Stuff, all right. 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.400 Now that I've kicked Chris down a well, we can. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:51.120 Oh he climbed up. Man. Dude has got some serious 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:55.880 forearm strength. Actually was all the fingertips. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.720 he's a baller. So we're gonna talk today about something 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.120 that you've had requested pretty much since episode one. Yep, yep. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.720 And it's it's an involved topic. We could we could 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.759 talk about any one of the sub things we're about 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:12.360 to talk about for an entire episode of of tex Stuff. 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:14.080 So I think we're going to give give this sort 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:16.560 of an overview. Yeah yeah, So we're going to talk 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.880 today about programming languages, and to really get us started, 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:24.160 I have a quote here from C. A. R. Who 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:28.760 are h O A R E. Oh, And he says, 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.319 I conclude that there are two ways of constructing a 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.319 software design. One way is to make it so simple 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.920 that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:40.959 is to make it so complicated that there are no 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:46.920 obvious deficiencies. And yeah, we're gonna talk about programming languages, 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:49.520 and that does apply to programming languages. Now, first of all, 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:54.920 you might ask, why do we have programming languages? Hey, Jonathan, Yeah, 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:57.120 why don't we have programming languages? Well, I'm glad you 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.000 asked that, Chris, because I was gonna have to wait 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.240 around a long time before the emails started coming in. Uh. Yeah. 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.120 The reason why we have it is because machines understand 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:09.679 a very well on the surface, a simple language, but 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.760 it's one that humans are not able to read easily. 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:16.799 Machine code is not something that humans easily read, right, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.320 And ultimately, when you get down to it, a computer 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:26.960 understands basically two things on and off. Now, the type 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.960 of machine code is dependent on the kind of machine. 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:32.840 And when we say machine code, that doesn't necessarily just 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.280 mean computers. No, no, not at all. Yeah, because the 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:37.919 first machine codes were really for things like looms, right 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:43.040 looms and player pianos where that's another example. It's a 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.560 machine code that the coding translated to which notes played 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.079 when yes, uh, if you will remember a long time 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:55.040 ago we talked about how looms were mechanical. Looms were 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.920 programmed by using punched cards, um. And this was done 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:03.600 hundreds of years ago now um. So basically, the loom 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:05.880 would follow the instructions on the card. Where there was 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:07.960 a hole, it would do one thing, and when there 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.560 was a non hole, it would not do that thing 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:13.920 right again one or zero exactly. It also led to 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.520 the first episodes of sabotage, Sabo being a shoe that 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.519 someone would throw in the loom to break it because 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.440 they didn't want their jobs taken over by the machines. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:28.160 Had times haven't changed manual weavers who uh did not 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.520 want to be displaced by an automatic loom unbeweavable. Yes, 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:36.160 it wasn't. I thought I could get through that, but 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:40.160 I couldn't. So yeah, machine code is this stuff that that, again, 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.760 machines can understand humans, humans can understand it, don't get 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.240 me wrong, It's just it takes so much effort to 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.360 understand it that it's not efficient for humans to to 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.480 write in machine code. I know people who can read binary, 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.520 I'm not one of them, right, Yeah, And there there 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.040 are people out there who are have what to me 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.240 would seem a mysterious gift to be able to read 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:03.680 and write in machine code in a way that you know, 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:08.720 I just can't comprehend. Um. So programming languages are a 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.960 way of of addressing that problem. It's it's an attempt 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:16.080 to create a language that is easier for humans to 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:20.440 uh to comprehend, and to create a set of instructions 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.880 for a machine that don't require you to think in 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:29.600 machine code. Yes, yes, um, I am Actually I have 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.799 actually been taking a a Python class over the past 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:39.440 few weeks, right. Uh, actually that's where it got its name. 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.120 I didn't really Yeah. Uh, Python is We'll get into 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:44.840 this later, but I just want to set this up. 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.279 Python is an object oriented programming language. Um. But I'm 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.400 actually in LESSNSE with the instructors Scott Turnbull, who's a 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.560 who's a friend, and uh, he was explaining that it's 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.719 not it's not that you're people are are afraid to 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.120 learn programming languages because they seem kind of complex. But 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.159 it's not that's it's not that you're not smart enough, 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:11.279 he says, it's actually that you're not dumb enough because 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:15.080 the computer doesn't really understand things. And the computer language 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.240 is there too to be sort of an interface between 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.880 you and the computer to give it specific instructions. Because 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:22.919 it doesn't know what you're trying to do. You have 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.920 to be very specific, and that's what the languages are 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.440 trying to do. But the thing is that depending on 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:33.000 the machine, as Jonathan was saying before, and depending on 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.400 what you're trying to do. Uh, people keep writing new 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:42.000 languages because one language maybe too sophisticated for the particular 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.200 kind of machine, or as machines become more sophisticated, you 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.600 might need something to take advantage of that where you 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.800 can really use the capabilities of those machines. Yeah, if 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.040 you look at some of the older programming languages, they 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.280 just weren't designed to to deal with the operations that 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:00.600 modern machines can can execute, and so you end up 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:03.760 having to if you're using those older languages, the programs 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.719 get more and more complex and larger and larger because 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:08.600 you have to have more lines of code in order 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:13.719 to facilitate these operations. Um or you have a language 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.200 that's so complex that it takes you three days just 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:18.800 to figure out how to write one line of code 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:23.159 to get what you what you want done done. So yeah, 0:06:23.200 --> 0:06:28.120 it's a little um, it's a little daunting for the layman. Uh. 0:06:28.279 --> 0:06:30.120 From a high level point of view, there are two 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.320 main features that programming languages have to have, or that 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.120 all languages really have, um. And these are not the 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.960 only two features, but two main features. One is semantics, 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.880 which is the meaning of what you are saying, and 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.640 then the other syntax, which is the form of what 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:51.920 you're saying. And the syntax and the semantics together are 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:53.800 kind of the set of rules that you have to 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.279 follow in order for a language to be understandable. And 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.320 that really goes for human languages as well. Yes, yeah, 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.320 all words have to go in a certain order for 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:06.120 somebody else to understand them, right, And you can play 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.599 without a little bit and humans are still able to 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.120 understand it. For example, so if you speak like Yoda, 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.080 that's exactly what I was thinking when you said that. Right. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.480 If you hear Yoda talk in the Star Wars movies, 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.280 you know Yoda has his own syntax. He he throws 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:24.600 words in in odd odda order all the time, particularly 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.520 more in the prequels. I noticed his syntax got funkier 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.120 the younger he was. As he got older, I guess 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:35.520 he cut that crap out anyway, So, uh, nice Frank 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:41.720 OSes in the office everyone. So yeah, humans can actually 0:07:41.760 --> 0:07:44.680 deal with a little variation in syntax. Computers not so much. 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:49.640 Computers are not good at adapting to new situations. They 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:51.400 have to, you know, you have to be able to 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.080 program it in a way that it makes sense to 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:56.840 the computer, so it can't really interpret if you start 0:07:56.880 --> 0:08:02.640 messing with the syntax. There are two main categorizations, I 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.160 would say for for programming languages. There are low level 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.280 programming languages and high level programming languages. Yes, Now, a 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:15.200 low level programming language is one that is based on 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:20.840 mnemonic devices that are easy for a relatively easy for 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:25.160 humans to understand and remember. And they are, but they 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.680 correspond very closely with machine code, so it's almost like 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.440 your programming in machine code, but it's just a slight 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:36.560 tweak from machine code so that it's not as monumental 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.720 a task to remember you know, which what is you know, 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.240 what makes up the letter A as opposed to the 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.520 you know, the the group of zeros and ones that 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:52.720 would normally use that in say binary code. So um, 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.640 assembly language is an example of a low level computing language. 0:08:57.600 --> 0:08:59.400 So if you were to write something in assembly, you'd 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:04.480 be writing it in a mnemonic style that closely models 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:09.439 machine language. Now, high level programming languages introduce a concept 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.720 called abstraction. Now, abstraction means you step a little further 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.600 away from these these specific steps the computer has to 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:21.000 go through in order to to execute the operation you're 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:24.000 you are telling it to do, and you can get 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.760 a little more free with the language. Now, the biggest 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.439 advancement would be if you created some sort of natural 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.400 language computer language where you would just type in a 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:37.839 sentence and the computer would be able to interpret that 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.040 as an actual command. So, you know, you would type in, uh, 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:43.839 I need you to add these two numbers together, and 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.559 then I need you to add this set of numbers together, 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:48.480 and then I need you to add both sums together, 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.160 and then I need you to give me an average. 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:53.480 You know, if you just type that in, then the computer, 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.960 if it had a way of interpreting natural language, would 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.480 give you the results you wanted. But we aren't really 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.240 there right. Well, let me let me take this from 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.560 the opposite side here for just a moment. You don't 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:11.400 necessarily want that because hit me with it, because again, 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:16.800 as Scott says, programming can be really repetitive, so you're 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:20.440 not going to want to type out, um, you know, 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:22.720 I want you to add these two numbers together. And 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:24.960 then you know you wanted to actually be as simple 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.840 as possible, So you don't want it to be literally 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.640 like that, just that, and I know you know that, 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:33.360 but I want to make it sort of clear that 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.719 it's not you want it to be to express that 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.760 sentiment in as few words as possible, because you're probably 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.000 going to have to type out the exact same kind 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.440 of thing many, many, many times over the course of 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.840 writing a program. Yeah, and if you were to write 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:54.040 a complicated program in assembly language, you would discover that 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.040 it's going to be enormous. This is gonna be lines 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.600 and lines and lines of code because with a language, 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.360 you are telling the computer what to do step by step. 0:11:03.400 --> 0:11:04.840 And when I mean what to do, I'm talking about 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:07.880 not just telling it which operations to use, but when 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.640 to access memory, where it has to access it, what 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.439 information it has to pull up. I mean every single 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:15.640 set of instructions you can think about, you would pretty 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:18.080 much have to include there and the computer. If you 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.040 don't tell it to do something, the computer will not 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:25.800 do it. So think of it like a two year old. Yeah, alright, 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.760 so Chris, you've you've had experience with two year olds. 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:30.920 So let's say you tell your two years this is 0:11:30.960 --> 0:11:32.800 like a Bill Cosby routine. In fact, this is a 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.560 Bill Cosby routine. You tell the two year old, all right, 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.440 you need to go upstairs, take a shower, and go 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.880 to bed. No, you can't do that because if you 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:42.560 just tell the kid to go upstairs, take a shower 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.160 and go to bed, the kid goes upstairs, gets in 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:48.840 the shower fully closed, turns on the water, then turns 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.000 off the water, and then gets into bed soaking wet. 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:52.720 So what you have to do is say, all right, 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.599 walk up the stairs, open the door to the bathroom, 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:00.280 go inside the bathroom, close the door to the bathroom, 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.360 take off your clothes, get in the shower, turn on 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:09.760 the water, wash shampoo, rents, get out of the shower, etcetera, etcetera. 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.280 You have to give it every single instruction or else 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.880 it skips steps or in the case of computers, it 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:17.720 may not skip steps. It may just say, well, I 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.080 don't know what to do because you haven't told me. 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:24.079 Well see I I uh, I don't know that that's 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.280 necessarily true of all two year olds. I have difficulty 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:31.040 weaning mind from the iPad long enough to do anything right. 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.320 But um, yeah, but you're if you're familiar with the 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.160 Cosby routine I'm talking about, I am, and that of course, well, 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.680 you know, being a stand up or sit down comedian. 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.760 In his case, uh, you know, he exaggerates a tiny bit, 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.040 but you're you're, you're onto something. And it also reminds 0:12:45.040 --> 0:12:47.800 me a little bit of the text games when you 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:50.520 have to be very specific. It's like, no, open the 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.200 door and go in right. Well, yeah, the text based 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.040 games that that Chris is talking about, there were these 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.920 these games that like uh, info games used to do, 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.079 like games that were all they would give you a 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.560 paragraph of text that would explain the situation, and then 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.079 you would type in what you wanted to do next 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.560 and go left right and there might go left correct, 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.079 There might be a there might be a very specific 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.200 way that the game will allow you to move forward. 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.000 And if you type in something that's similar to that, 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.280 like Let's say you type in go north, but the 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.160 game would only recognize walk north, even though both of 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:29.240 those things mean the same thing. You know, if you 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.920 don't type in the right command right the same thing 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:33.240 to us, it means the same thing to us, it 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:34.840 doesn't mean the same thing to the computer because it 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.280 just doesn't it doesn't have that vocabulary. So a similar language, 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:40.200 like I said, is more or less the step by 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:44.600 step set of directions for a computer. So that's a 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.560 low level language. The high level languages, they abstract languages, 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:52.080 get a little more free because you have a you 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.960 have a sort of a step between the programming language 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.160 you've built a program in and that the way the 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.120 computer actually executes the code. There's a there's a step 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:05.080 in between there, which can vary depending upon which programming 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:09.440 language you're using. Um So, whereas in the first example, 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:11.800 you know, I have to go and tell the two 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.240 year old step by step what needs to happen in 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:17.600 order for the desired result that to come out with 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.680 a high level language, because we've previously defined certain uh 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.160 operations and certain data sets. Because that stuff has been 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:30.400 defined previously, I might have the freedom to say, go upstairs, 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:32.400 take a shower and go to bed, and then the 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.360 computer because those that set of data and the set 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.280 of operations have been previously defined will know to follow 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.000 its step by step, even though I did not lay 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.120 it all out piece by piece by piece. Yeah, the 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:48.600 more sophisticated languages will let you define those parameters. You 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.000 might say, I've got I want you to do these 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:53.040 fifteen things, and you're gonna have to do these fifteen 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.480 things seventy five times over the course of this. Well, 0:14:55.680 --> 0:15:00.640 you might be able to create, uh m, a basically 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:04.600 a string of commands and say, when I say do this, 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:09.680 that means make all these fifteen things happen, so that 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:15.360 it's it's essentially like a shorthand you're yeah, exactly, that's 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.560 a better that's even better. Um, so you're going, okay, 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.680 so every time, So at first you might have to 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.080 do some some defining. You're gonna have to to explain, 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.160 uh in the language what you want these these things 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.200 to do, and then it will be able to execute 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.760 those those steps. But you know, it hasn't really always 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.480 been that way. Um. There are many, many, many languages, 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:42.040 some of which are are now famous, um, some of 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:44.760 which people still need to know because their legacy systems 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.440 out there that still run on these languages. Uh. Yeah. 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.600 I I have a friend who uh um works for 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:55.440 as a programming uh programmer, and she basically said, yeah, 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.560 I work with a language that not only is it 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:03.320 older than I am, but it has been mothballed for 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.480 almost as long as I've been alive. Uh And the 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.360 only reason they use it is because we're using these 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.120 computers and this is the language they understand. You happen 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.600 to know which one it was? No, I don't, Well, 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.680 I mean there's not There are thousands of programming languages 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:19.080 out there, which is one of the reasons why we 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:22.400 can't really do a full episode on programming languages period 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.520 because there are a lot of flavors, and they don't 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:30.040 you know, they take a lot of different approaches to programming. Now, 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.560 their goal is pretty much the same across the board. 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.040 The goal is to create a language that is easy 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.440 for humans to program in in such a way that 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.080 they can build applications for computers. But some of these 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:46.360 are designed with specific applications in mind. Some of them 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.120 are things like business applications or banking applications, and or 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:54.120 air traffic control systems. Systems that have a very specific 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.400 set of parameters that you would want to program for, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.920 and then the others are more free form, right that 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:05.080 the designed for programs that maybe don't have as specific 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.960 a use scenario. And uh, it's kind of interesting to 0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:13.040 talk about the history of these. UM there's actually I 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.080 wanted to mention before we really get into it. I 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.800 found a kind of neat timeline. It's an interactive timeline 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.720 that um you can move your cursor around the timeline. 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.159 The timeline itself is miniaturized, so when you look at 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.800 it just looks like a white bar with some gray 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.399 shading in it. And it turns out the reason for 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.280 that is because it's an enormous timeline and so when 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.160 you move your cursor it zooms in. I don't know, 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:39.320 it's got to be like twenty times or something. And 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.040 or if you to actually read what the the the 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.919 various languages are, but it said you can find that 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:50.960 at www dot l e V E n e Z 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:56.120 dot com, slash l A n G so Levinez dot com, 0:17:56.200 --> 0:18:00.200 slash lang and it's a neat it's a neat time line. 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:01.960 I really do recommend you checking out out if you're 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.760 interested in seeing sort of the development of programming languages, 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.240 especially if you want to see which ones were descended 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:11.919 from the earliest languages, because that's it's kind of like 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.159 a family tree, except it's it's laid out horizontally as 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:20.160 opposed to vertically. Right now, Um, when i i'm I'm 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.439 old enough to remember when people used some of the 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.280 older languages, and so do you know the oldest one 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:29.680 is UM? The the oldest one. The on is credited 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.280 as the oldest language, even though it was not implemented 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:40.199 until for for computer programming. Yes, it is called plunk 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.880 a cool. Wow, what a catchy name. Plank a cool. 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.159 It was developed by Conrad Zuza. It was for the 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:51.760 Z three computer. Yeah, so program It was created back 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:56.560 around so in the so this is a German computer 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:01.439 in the forties. It was created but not implemented, so 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:06.080 the language was never actually used until two thousands somewhere 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:08.240 around there. This is the Z three came up on 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.320 in a way earlier podcast that that was before the 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.040 three hundreds. Oh wait, this is the first of the 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:16.520 three hundreds. So if you're talking about the first you know, 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:21.120 sort of commercially available UM programming language that wasn't just 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:25.199 for a very specific proprietary device, and that's all it 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.640 was for, because there were some things they're programming languages 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.960 that are unique to a specific piece of hardware. Yeah, 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.919 but you were talking about a different one. I was 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.480 the first one that that comes to mind when I 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.080 think of historical languages is for Tran, right, which was 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:42.360 we talked about that a little bit in our our 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:46.520 epic series on IBM. Yeah. John Bacchus actually helps create 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:50.400 the language in nine in n so Actually it wasn't 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:52.760 that long after the Z three. I think they actually 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:56.680 started developing it even earlier, like in the early fifties. 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.920 But but yeah, fifty seven was the introduction to the market. Yep, yep. 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.600 And it's you know, there are still people who program 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:06.280 in FORTRAN. I would imagine, Yeah, there's some legacy systems 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:08.640 out there running on for trend. Yeah, you know. I mean, 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:11.439 here's the other thing is that if you create a 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:15.080 business or any really if you create any system that's 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.440 dependent upon a legacy system, it's really hard to move 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:21.560 off of that system because you know, the modern systems 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:24.080 may not be able to emulate the old system, and 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:27.119 so you have to keep supporting something that is otherwise 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:32.040 obsolete and perpetually unless you just completely revamp the way 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:35.600 you do things. And that's that's intimidating. It's a tough 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.239 thing to do. Yeah, I can't imagine anyone booting up 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:44.040 their IBM system Stroke three sixty and uh starting to 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.200 run a Java app on it. I just don't think 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:50.240 it's gonna happen. Probably not. UM another one of the 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:53.520 languages I was thinking about. UM. There are three really 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:55.359 that come to mind, Like when I think of old 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:58.760 programming language is tons of others. COBALL is another one, 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.480 which is the common business oriented language, which is very 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:06.520 business heavy. It was a procedural language that was designed 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:10.800 for programming business applications. Uh. And actually COBAL was one 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:14.440 of those programming languages that that came into demand again 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.159 about a little over a decade ago. Do you know 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.840 why what happened a little over a decade ago? M M. 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:26.120 I'm thinking you're probably talking about the major world shaking 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.680 event that was the Y two K problem exactly. There 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.240 were a lot of legacy systems that were running Cobal. 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:34.720 They were running Cobal programming, you know, it was it 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.679 was the systems themselves were programmed in Cobal. And we 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:41.280 were coming up on the Y two K problem, which, 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:44.440 if you guys don't remember, was the issue of the date, 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:48.239 not it was only the date was being expressed as 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:50.800 a two digit numbers, which meant that when nine nine 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:54.800 became zero zero, that some of these systems might interpret 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:57.159 that to mean that the years no longer. It's not 0:21:57.240 --> 0:22:00.919 two thousand, but is nineteen hundred. But it presupposes the 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:03.520 first two digits were one nine. And that's actually sort 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:07.480 of important because, um, you know, not only do programmers 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:11.159 look for ways to be very concise. When a lot 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:13.720 of people were programming in Cobal when it was first 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:19.840 released in ninety nine, Um, you had to be as 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:24.240 simple and precise as possible because, uh, you know, a 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:28.960 thumb drive, a flash drive has more memory than those 0:22:29.000 --> 0:22:31.480 machines had at that point. Yeah, you're super computers back 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:37.280 then were pitiful compared to the handheld devices we have today. Yeah, 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.440 so they had to you know, lopping off the first 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:42.240 two digits of the year. Uh, you don't need them, 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:45.080 that's two extra digits I don't have to worry about. Well. Yeah, 0:22:45.119 --> 0:22:48.080 and you gotta remember also, these guys when they were programming, 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:50.719 they knew that the field they were in. And when 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:54.359