For questions about the history of programming and computing.
54
votes
13answers
8k views
What is the history of the use of “foo” and “bar” in source code examples?
Why do many code examples, especially tutorials, use the names "Foo" and "Bar" so often? It is almost a standard.
For example:
void foo(char* bar) {
printf("%s", bar);
}
15
votes
3answers
4k views
How could the first C++ compiler be written in C++?
Stroustrup claims that Cfront, the first C++ compiler, was written in C++ (Stroustrup FAQ).
However, how is it even possible that the first C++ compiler be written in C++?
The code that makes up the ...
13
votes
2answers
2k views
What's the history of the non-official pronunciation of SQL?
SQL is officially pronounced as /ˌɛskjuːˈɛl/ like "S-Q-L", as stated in
Beaulieu, Alan (April 2009). Mary E. Treseler. ed. Learning SQL (2nd ed.). Sebastapol, CA, USA: O'Reilly. ISBN ...
38
votes
2answers
2k views
So what *did* Alan Kay really mean by the term “object-oriented”?
Reportedly, Alan Kay is the inventor of the term "object oriented". And he is often quoted as having said that what we call OO today is not what he meant.
For example, I just found this on Google:
...
8
votes
5answers
463 views
Why is filesystem preferred for logs instead of RDBMS?
Question should be clear from its title. For example Apache saves its access and error logs in files instead of RDBMS no matter on how large or small scale it is being utilized.
For RDMS we just have ...
233
votes
4answers
91k views
What software programming languages were used by the Soviet Union's space program?
I got interested in the Soviet space program and was interested to discover that the software on the Buran spacecraft circa 1988 was written in Prolog.
Does anyone know what languages might have ...
169
votes
7answers
23k views
Why is 80 characters the 'standard' limit for code width?
Why is 80 characters the "standard" limit for code width? Why 80 and not 79, 81 or 100? What is the origin of this particular value?
63
votes
19answers
4k views
Has any language become greatly popular for something other than its intended purpose?
Take this scenario:
A programmer creates a language to solve some problem.
He then releases this language to help others solve problems like it.
Another programmer discovers it's actually much ...
41
votes
5answers
8k views
Who created the idea(s) of the first loop constructs?
while (1) {
if (1+1==2) {
print "Yes, you paid attention in Preschool!";
} else {
print "Wait... I thought 1+1=2";
}
}
As a developer, we all have to use ...
17
votes
12answers
2k views
How did JavaScript become popular?
In ancient history, Brendan Eich had a language design, and in today's world, JavaScript is a popular language implemented and used in many different places.
What caused the language to become ...
13
votes
3answers
2k views
Who was the first programmer?
Is there some consensus among historians on who was the first programmer ever? If so, who was it and what were they programming on?
I find it more interesting to know more about the pioneers of ...
11
votes
1answer
2k views
What did they call Object-Oriented Programming before Alan Kay invented the term?
Alan Kay claims that "I made up the term "object-oriented", and I can tell you I did not have C++ in mind." What he had in mind, of course, was Smalltalk. But he did not make up object-oriented ...
13
votes
3answers
692 views
Pure virtual or abstract, what's in a name?
While discussing a question about virtual functions on Stack Overflow, I wondered whether there was any official naming for pure (abstract) and non-pure virtual functions.
I always relied on ...
14
votes
1answer
902 views
Who designed exceptions?
Where did exceptions and exception handling come from?
I like how .NET uses it, I like how C++ supports it (but libraries unfortunately use return code or is written in C instead). I know its pretty ...
5
votes
7answers
3k views
What was the first programming language written for computers?
Looking at so many programming languages we have today, each one being unique in it's own way, I've tried to figure out what the first programming language written for computers is.
Looking at the ...
6
votes
3answers
728 views
What was the historical impact of Ariane 5's Flight 501?
The disintegration of the Ariane 5 rocket 37 seconds after launch on her maiden voyage (Flight 501) is commonly referred to as one of the most expensive software bugs in history1:
It took the ...
77
votes
14answers
14k views
What triggered the popularity of lambda functions in modern mainstream programming languages?
In the last few years anonymous functions (AKA lambda functions) have become a very popular language construct and almost every major / mainstream programming language has introduced them or is ...
60
votes
1answer
2k views
What task did Dijkstra give volunteers, which was mentioned in his paper “The Humble Programmer”?
In Dijkstra's paper "Humble Programmer", he mentions that he gave some volunteers a problem to solve:
“I have run a little programming experiment with really experienced volunteers, but something ...
12
votes
11answers
4k views
Is MUMPS alive? [closed]
At my first workplace we were using Digital Standard MUMPS on a PDP 11-clone (TPA 440), then we've switched to Micronetics Standard MUMPS running on a Hewlett-Packard machine, HP-UX 9, around early ...
46
votes
11answers
7k views
Why has C prevailed over Pascal?
My understanding is that in the 1980s, and perhaps in the 1990s too, Pascal and C were pretty much head-to-head as production languages.
Is the ultimate demise of Pascal only due to Borland's neglect ...
3
votes
5answers
2k views
Why was Objective-C popularity so sudden on TIOBE index?
I'd like to ask a question that is pretty similar to the one being asked here, but for Objective-C.
According to TIOBE rankings, the rise of popularity of Objective-C is unprecedented. This is ...
3
votes
10answers
489 views
Recommendable reads about programming history? [closed]
As much as I love to code, as little do I know about the history of programming. I know some names (Turing, Ritchie, Linus) - but that's it. I know roughly what they did and I'm a bit ashamed. This, ...
6
votes
5answers
754 views
Who was the first software engineer?
It's fairly well known who the first programmer was but who was or were the first software engineer(s)? By software engineer I mean someone who uses formalized specifications and methods to deliver ...
16
votes
5answers
612 views
How did programmers work back when a computer was very expensive, rare, as big as a room?
I assume they weren't able to sit in front of a computer for the whole day like we do today. So how did they write their program? On a piece of paper and type it later when the computer is available? ...
10
votes
1answer
520 views
Why did object-oriented paradigms take so long to go mainstream?
I read this question and it got me thinking about another fairly recent thing. Object oriented languages. I'm not sure when the first one was created, but why did it take so long before they became ...
2
votes
1answer
145 views
Is there genetic relationship between ARM and PDP-11 architectures?
Reading about ARM architecture I found many similarities to PDP-11 architecture which did not exist between ARM and x86.
For example,
General-purpose registers named Rx compared to AX, BX,... for ...
16
votes
6answers
850 views
Why do we call it “production”?
A coworker was wondering this today: "Why is it that in our industry 'production' means 'final, deliverable product'? You know, like if a movie is 'in production', it means they're currently filming ...
9
votes
6answers
2k views
Are Java's public fields just a tragic historical design flaw at this point?
It seems to be Java orthodoxy at this point that one should basically never use public fields for object state. (I don't necessarily agree, but that's not relevant to my question.) Given that, would ...
4
votes
3answers
449 views
Where does the term “Front End” come from?
Where does the term "front-end" come from? Is there a particular presentation/talk/job-posting which is regarded as the first use of the term? Is someone credited with coining the term?
The ...
4
votes
2answers
292 views
Who decided on the terminology downcasting and upcasting?
As far as I know, the terminology comes from how the inheritance hierarchy is traditionally displayed, with the extending types at the bottom, and the parent types at the top.
This is a bit ...
2
votes
2answers
284 views
History of Associative Array?
In quite a lot of modern scripting languages (e.g. Perl, Python, Ruby, PHP, Lua, JavaScript), associative arrays are supported as a primitive or first-class data type (with various names like map, ...
-4
votes
4answers
1k views
The limitations of non-OOP languages [closed]
I've read that object oriented programming was a major breakthrough in software development and made possible many new and exciting software.
How valuable was this paradigm
shift?
Exactly how ...
