Programming Languages

Some great quotes on programming languages from Steve Yegge

Perl's spec is a printout of Larry's source code, which looks the same in ascii, ebcdic, and gzipped binary form.

C++ is much less adaptable than C. It's large, nonstandard, ungainly, and nonportable, and it has horrible linking problems, regrettable name-mangling, a template system that's too complex for what you can do with it, and so on, and on. These things all hurt its ability to evolve towards suitability for new (or specialized) problem domains. C++ was able to move into the application-programming domain during a temporary historical anomaly, from the mid-80's to mid-90's, during which software demands outpaced Moore's Law for a while. The balance is restored, but C++ is still hanging around like a crusty old aunt, because of all the legacy app code out there. How C++ made it onto the server-side of the web, I'll never know. It's hit the Peter Principle for languages big time: promoted far beyond its capabilities.