C

The programming language C was developed in the 1970s when Bell Labs employee Ken Thompson tried to make a programming language for the new Unix operating system. He modified the typeless language BCPL and created B. Another Bell Labs employee, Dennis Ritchie, improved upon B and created C. C is a compiled language and belongs to the imperative paradigm. Despite its age, C is still used widely today. A number of early computer systems were originally written in C, including Linux, Mac OS and Windows.

 

Python

Python was created in 1991 by Guido van Rossum and was named after the sketch comedy series Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Van Rossum’s goal was to create an easy-to-read language as a successor to the ABC programming language. Python is an interpreted language and a multi-paradigm language, meaning it can support both imperative and declarative paradigms. The Instagram app was created with Python.

Java

Java was also created in 1991 by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems Inc. Gosling and his team wanted to create a new language for digital devices (such as televisions) that would allow them to communicate with each other. The language was originally named “Oak,” but was later named Java, after the coffee. Java is a compiled language and belongs to the imperative paradigm. The computer game Minecraft was created with Java.

Swift

Swift was developed in 2014 by Apple to build apps for Apple products (such as macOS and iOs). It was meant to be a replacement for Objective-C, which was Apple’s previous programming language. Swift is a compiled language and, like Python, is a multi-paradigm language. Many iOS apps were created with Swift, such as LinkedIn.

Kotlin

The programming language Kotlin was developed by software development company JetBrains in 2011 as a new language for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), but more concise than Java. It was designed to interoperate with Java, meaning the two languages can be used together. Kotlin was named after the Russian island Kotlin Island. Kotlin is a compiled language and belongs to the declarative paradigm. Kotlin is often used in Android app development, such as the Uber app on Android devices.