Re: What databases have taught me

From: Gene Wirchenko <genew_at_ucantrade.com.NOTHERE>
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:48:38 -0700
Message-ID: <m648a2tg762vsgu210q3i4blh68b86tav5_at_4ax.com>


On 29 Jun 2006 08:56:01 -0700, "Marshall" <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com> wrote:

>Bob Badour wrote:
>> Marshall wrote:
>> >
>> > I also note (perhaps recklessly) than no dynamically typed
>> > language has ever achieved any significant marketshare,
>> > and that historically languages trickle down from academia
>> > and research institutions, and not up from the trenches.
>>
>> Have you forgotten VisiCalc, Clipper and Turbo Pascal?
>
>I was speaking of trends rather than laws. Certainly Perl
>came up from the trenches. But I would rate Pascal as
>having come from Wirth. (Is TurboPascal a different
>language than Pascal?) I don't know much about clipper

     Rather. The base Pascal was a very limited language. See Brian Kernighan's "Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language". Turbo Pascal had a lot more.

>but I can't imagine its market share for developing software
>was ever all *that* large.

     It was part of the xBASE family, and there were quite a few apps written in it.

>But I will have to grant you the speadsheet! They are quite
>popular, are entirely commercial in origin, and I believe
>isomorphic to a functional programming language.

     Not entirely commercial. We just know that one (VisiCalc) stuck.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko Received on Thu Jun 29 2006 - 19:48:38 CEST

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