DEV Community

Cover image for humorous history of programming
Aman Verma
Aman Verma

Posted on

humorous history of programming

==============================

HISTORY OF PROGRAMMING (SUMMARY)

BEGINNING

  • Initially, nothing existed
  • Number 1 invented → later 0 invented
  • People thought numbers were useless

ELECTRICITY & BINARY

  • Electricity works as ON / OFF
  • ON = 1
  • OFF = 0
  • Combination of 1 and 0 → Binary system
  • Computers understand voltage, not words

BITS & BYTES

  • Single binary digit = Bit
  • 8 bits grouped = Byte
  • 1 Byte can represent numbers from 0 to 255

EARLY COMPUTING

  • Used vacuum tubes and punch cards
  • Programming done using pure 0s and 1s
  • Very difficult and error-prone

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

  • Created to replace raw binary
  • Uses human-readable mnemonics
  • Still hardware dependent
  • Easier than machine code but still complex

COMPILERS & HIGH-LEVEL LANGUAGES

  • Compiler converts readable code → machine code
  • A programmer never sees machine code again
  • First high-level languages:
    • FORTRAN → scientific computing
    • COBOL → business & government systems

LISP & NEW IDEAS

  • Everything is a list
  • Code = Data, Data = Code
  • Uses an interpreter instead of a compiler
  • Introduced Garbage Collection
  • Memory handled automatically

STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING

  • GOTO statements discouraged
  • Focus on readable & maintainable code

C LANGUAGE

  • Fast and powerful
  • Direct access to memory
  • High performance but unsafe
  • Used to build operating systems

UNIX

  • Built using C
  • Philosophy:
    • Small programs
    • Each program does one task well
    • Programs work together using pipes
  • Command-line culture begins

C++

  • Extension of C
  • Added Object-Oriented Programming
  • Concepts:
    • Classes
    • Objects
    • Inheritance
    • Polymorphism
  • Widely used in games, browsers, and engines

1980s LANGUAGE BOOM

  • BASIC → beginner friendly
  • Pascal → structured programming
  • Ada → military
  • Erlang → telecom systems
  • Smalltalk → pure object-oriented
  • Many languages copied Smalltalk concepts

1990s REVOLUTION

  • Python → readable, indent

Top comments (0)