Re: Application of Various Programming Languages?

W. D. Allen wrote:
As a neophyte I have become aware of a large variety of programming languages, Ada, C++, VisualBasic, Python, Ruby, etc., but have not find information regarding which kind of problems each language is designed to address. For example, I assume Ruby is a web design language,

Ruby existed for almost 10 years before Rails came along. And I suspect Rails _might_ not be the best Web package for Ruby!

> but is
each language optimized for certain applications? If so, is there a web site where I can get answers to my question?

C, C++, Lua, and Ada are "low level". That means they put the needs of the CPU above the needs of the programmer. They are hard to write, but when the code works it blazes.

Python, Ruby, Perl, and Smalltalk are "high level". They put the needs of the programmer above the needs of the CPU. They are very easy to write, but slow to execute. That's why they find good niches on websites, where nobody cares how slow the server gets, so long as new pages fetch in a low average time.

VB is a corporate atrocity, like Java. Learn it, but don't waste time thinking it's the be-all and end-all of programming.

--
Phlip
.

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