Reply to Steve Howell >>> Do you think we'll always have a huge number of incompatible programming languages? I agree with you that it's a fact of life in 2012, but will it be a fact of life in 2062? <<<
We can only HOPE so! When I first learned unix / sh / csh / tcsh / bash ...etc... it irked me no end that there was so much variation and inconsistency, and I couldn't wait for some kind of standard to finally emerge. But now I realize in hindsight that what I was seeing was evolution in action! Software evolves much like life, in a healthy ecosystem there are a million variations, and nobody knows in advance which ones will succeed and which will fail. And so it is with programming languages, we should all be happy that we live in an environment so rich with competing ideas and ideologies, look at all the fun we are having just discussing all the possibilities! Compared to my first computer experience on Digitals DCL (Digital Command Language) that had the same syntax and command-line arguments for every command defined in DEC, as if the product of a Master Designer, it was beautiful consistency and easy to learn, but it only allowed three levels of directories, and one-size-fits-all for everyone. I loved it then, but now I see that was like life in a medieval monastery. Vive la difference!
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