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Programming Language Comparison How does a programmer decide which language to use? For commerical programmers that answer is usually pretty easy - the one that their employer has adopted. But beyond that, how would someone decide that "This is my language of choice?"? Many would argue that the choice of a language is application dependent, that programmers select a language based on how easy it is to write the applications that interest them. I subscribe to the theory that 90% of all applications can be written pretty much any of the Top 50 (or so) languages and that the choice of a language is a personal choice, not a technical one. So pick one and get on with the job at hand. Despite that personal view of lanugages, I still have a curiosity about the various languages - how do they differ and how does it really matter in the development cycle or in a finished application? So, I'm working on answering those questions to my own satisfaction. These next two sections document the work I'm doing in this area.
Features Comparison On first pass of reviewing various languages, I'm finding that most languages are very similar, with over 80% of the functions seemingly common across the languages. The difference is in the details of the functions - where languages appear to have common functions but which work in subtly different ways. The more interesting comparison is in the syntax and structure of the languages. I'm still working on how best to show this comparison.
Performance Comparison If I knew of a way to judge the time to create an application, I'd look at that as well. For example, the impact of integral tools or third-party tools impacts development time. But how long it takes to code a function is so dependent on the programmer that I'm not sure quite how to take out the variable human element. I'll think on it.
Syntax Comparison This is still in work. In the meantime, I suggest you look at the syntax comparison on Wikipedia.
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