Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!labrea!rutgers!bpa!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!lehi3b15!lafcol!galvinp
From: galvinp@lafcol.UUCP (Galvin Paul )
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Languages in the the REAL world -- Listing
Keywords: Pascal, Cobol, FORTRAN, others
Message-ID: <325@lafcol.UUCP>
Date: 3 Nov 88 15:24:43 GMT
Organization: Academic Computer Center, Lafayette College
Lines: 36


I would like to thank the many many people who took time out to reply to
my posting regarding the use of languages out in the REAL world. The
following is all the information I received in capsulated form.


There are three languages that seem to dominate the computing world:

     Cobol - used in nearly all "data processing" applications.
             Anything that has to do with the business world seems to have Cobol
             involved in it in some way, shape, or form.

     FORTRAN - this is fairly obvious.  Used for scientific
               applications, though there were a number of replies
               indicating that this would change in the future. 

     C - used for everything else.  Especially, "systems programming."


Various other languages were mentioned as well (actually, many).  LISP
and its derivatives and look alikes are used exclusively for AI
programming.  Pascal is used to teach structured programming. 
Assembly language is used for optimizing code.  ADA is being pushed buy
DoD.  Modula II fits in somewhere, but not all that well.

By far, the most important point made, was that it is more valuable to
learn data structures than it is to learn a language.  Apparently,
anyone can learn a language in a week or less.  Equally important, is
the ability to communicate ideas well, and to be able to work well with
others in large projects.

Thank you all for the replies sent to me.

Paul J. Galvin
(lafcol!galvinp)