Compare Most Popular Programming languages of 2007

Abilities of popular programming languages

0=Unthinkable
9=Already as good as can be now.

After the number means in current development with great possibilities for improvement.

? means it is reasonable to make improvement.
- means it is unreasonable to take the time to try to improve this.

	Easy	DevFast	RunFast	Readable	OO	Multipurpose	Secure	Multiprocess	Functional	Declarative
Python	9⁺	9⁺	6⁺	9⁺	8⁺	9⁺	6⁺	4⁺	8⁺	7⁺
Basic	9^?	6⁺	3⁺	8⁺	7	7	6	7	1^-	0^-
C++	2^?	3⁺	8^?	6	8⁺	9	5^?	9	7	6
Java	4⁺	5⁺	6⁺	6	8	8⁺	7⁺	8⁺	7	6
Lisp, Haskel, Scheme, etc.	2⁺	5⁺	3⁺	5⁺	4	7	5	7	9⁺	8⁺
Prolog	4⁺	6⁺	3⁺	6	3	2	3	5	7	9⁺
PHP	6^-	6	7	5	3	4	5	8	3	3

Reasons I, Johnnie Stovall, made this chart.

1. You can help yourself and others by better understanding the right tool for the right job. Someone who only has a hammer sees every problem as a nail. A 747 jet may be a better tool to move you from quickly from one place to another. But if the distance is very short the 747 is not a good tool. The 747 also requires years of expert knowledge and experience to operate. Someday we may have a tool that will carry us everywhere and do everything we need done and it will be as easy to operate as speaking commands which will be immediately obeyed. In 1971, I wanted to do data-driven programming because it is the easiest way to solve many problems which cannot be solved with less powerful computational techniques. I started by plugging wires into boards, then using FORTRAN, Cobol, BASIC, Algol, Pascal, C++, Snobol and many other techniques which are not capable of solving the most difficult problems in a reasonable amount of time. I must have the kind of power that Scheme, Prolog, and Python are capable of delivering. But after learning and using dozens of computer techniques, I do not want to double that number in order to stay up on the best techniques. The University of Michigan Computer Science department said, "At the Ph.D. level we do not teach you computer techniques because they will quickly be out of date. We teach you all of the fundamentals." To me, one of the most fundamental concepts of computer programming is that the programmer must be able to start with the easiest thing possible and work all the way up to solving the most difficult problems with only small steps within the same language. I see Python as something which I can teach to small children and they grasp the beginning concepts in a few minutes. I also see Python doing the functional and declarative programming necessary for data driven programming. C++, C#, and most other computer languages would require writing the equivalent of a Python, Scheme, or Prolog compiler in order to do the same thing. I would appreciate it, if you can point me and the rest of the computer programmers a better solution which is also suitable for small children.

2. Lord Kelvin said that if you cannot measure something, you really do not understand it. Social science owes most of its progress to Likert scales and other subjective measurements. If you can give me examples of a column and row such as functional or declarative programming in other languages which show the above numbers to be wrong, I will gladly change them and be grateful for the example. Until then, I am happy to just hear more comments that these numbers seem to be fairly close to the reality others have experienced.

3. I would much rather look at a comparison table or programming examples rather than hear long winded opinions.

This work is copyrighted 2007 by Johnnie Stovall. This is revision K07ai. It may be freely copied but only if whole work is copied including the coded revision date.