galvinp@lafcol.UUCP (Galvin Paul ) (10/21/88)
Hello: I am a sophomore at Lafayette College and I am interested in knowing just what languages are used out in the REAL world. I had been under the impression that Pascal was a big deal but have since had my mind changed for me. *I am _not_ saying that Pascal is bad...* I am in school and I have no way of knwing what is being used. I would also like to know what sort of things are written. Here, all we do is study data structures and write useless programs that are designed to show that we are able to implement what we learned in class. I would like any and all responses. You all would probably want to mail me instead of cluttering up the net with things that most of you probably already know. Thanks, Paul J. Galvin (lafcol!galvinp)
skh@hpclskh.HP.COM (10/26/88)
Don't be discouraged by all those "useless" programs. When I look back on stuff I wrote in college, I can't believe I wrote some of it...it looks that bad compared to my later programming. It is still a discipline that requires practice. As to your original question, I prefer to split the "real" world into three parts: Business Programming: COBOL dominates this world, with BASIC and RPG being used also. (Recent BASIC and RPG implementations are beginning to mix with COBOL to provide faster solutions.) Technical Programming: FORTRAN still dominates, with C and Pascal also taking large chunks of this market. I think the growing popularity of UNIX is making C grow, but many people still use and prefer Pascal for some things. Ideally, it would be nice to mix them. Defense Programming (U.S.): Ada obviously must be used, as DoD has stated that Ada will be used. Of course, there is an incredible number of existing programs written in FORTRAN. The process of converting these will take a long time. In terms of real sales, COBOL is by far the most dominant language around. (That doesn't necessarily mean you should rush out and learn it!) If you want to program for big business, a bank, an insurance company, or the like, learn COBOL. For your own sake, learn something else. DO NOT focus on one language. I've had to use four major languages in less than 10 years. It's better to learn how to quickly learn and use a language than to just get sprinkles of zillions of languages while in school. Gotta get off the soapbox now... Stewart Hill skh%hpclskh@hplabs.hp.com P.S. Post a summary of your results...I couldn't get mail to you.
peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (11/02/88)
In article <960011@hpclskh.HP.COM>, skh@hpclskh.HP.COM writes: > As to your original question, I prefer to split the "real" world into three > parts: > Business Programming... > Technical Programming... (You seem to mainly be talking about scientific programming) Control Systems. Many languages, none predominating. Most determined by the hardware vendor until recently. Non-business applications programs. Mostly PC software. Mostly assembly. > Defense Programming... (this doesn't really qualify, since it includes technical, control, and even business programming. It's mainly in the control systems part that ADA dominates) So, you may want to split the real world into four parts, with a slice of each labelled "Defense -- ADA". -- Peter da Silva `-_-' Ferranti International Controls Corporation "Have you hugged U your wolf today?" uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter Disclaimer: My typos are my own damn business. peter@ficc.uu.net