The Past, Present & Future of Programming Languages • Kevlin Henney • YOW! 2025

This presentation was recorded at YOW! Australia 2025. #GOTOcon #YOW https://yowcon.com Kevlin Henney - Consultant, Programmer, Keynote Speaker, Technologist, Trainer & Writer @KevlinHenney RESOURCES https://bsky.app/profile/kevlin.bsky.social https://about.me/kevlin https://twitter.com/KevlinHenney https://linkedin.com/in/kevlin https://instagram.com/kevlin.henney https://kevlinhenney.medium.com Links https://www.cse.sc.edu/~mgv/csce330f14/Backus78.pdf https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/359138.359140 https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index https://spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2025 https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/362929.362947 https://craftofcoding.wordpress.com/2021/03/05/superplan-groovy https://github.com/e-n-f/if-then-else/blob/master/if-then-else.md https://twobithistory.org/2019/01/31/simula.html https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/lambda-the-ultimatae-excel-worksheet-function https://redmonk.com/sogrady/2025/06/18/language-rankings-1-25 https://medium.com/@SmokeAndStrive/stack-overflows-traffic-dropped-50-here-s-the-real-reason-6efc12c312c4 https://github.blog/developer-skills/programming-languages-and-frameworks/typescripts-rise-in-the-ai-era-insights-from-lead-architect-anders-hejlsberg ABSTRACT Programming languages are a halfway house between the metal and the mind, a bridge between the world of circuits and the world of applications, the engineered and the social. Programming languages are the medium through which developers codify systems and fragments. In each programming language is embedded a philosophy (or many) of how to think about code, how to organise thoughts, how to design. Programming languages also define skillsets, ecosystems, jobs, loyalties and communities. When we think of software and technology we often think in terms of progress and rapid change. Programming languages, however, typically move at a far slower pace. Mainstream languages are still embracing ideas that are decades old. Constructs that developers welcome as new to their language of choice are often older than the developers themselves. And over all this hangs the question, what of the future? How will current trends, from FOSS to LLMs, shape programming languages and their use? In this talk, we will take a tour of the past, present and future of programming languages. [...] TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 04:57 John Backus: Fortran 08:53 Programming language rankings 21:08 Bjarne Stroustrup 22:14 Prog. languages chronologically ordered 28:30 Algol 68 34:38 if-then-else 36:40 Subroutines 41:35 Block structure 44:10 FP languages 45:20 LISP & Machine Learning 50:10 Betterigde's law 50:55 Outro Download slides and read the full abstract here: https://yowcon.com/brisbane-2025/sessions/3870 RECOMMENDED BOOKS Kevlin Henney & Trisha Gee • 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know • https://amzn.to/3kiTwJJ Kevlin Henney • 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know • https://amzn.to/2Yahf9U Henney & Monson-Haefel • 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know • https://amzn.to/3pZuHsQ Henney, Buschmann & Schmidt • Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 5 • https://amzn.to/3GAPzN7 Edsger W. Dijkstra • A Discipline of Programming • https://amzn.to/3JlwHV6 Anthony Doerr • Cloud Cuckoo Land • https://amzn.to/4axghXq https://bsky.app/profile/gotocon.com https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #ProgrammingLanguages #ProgrammingLanguage #TIOBEIndex #RedMonk #FutureProgrammingLanguages #Fortran #JohnBackus #RobertFloyd #BjarneStroustrup #Algol #occam #Fibonacci #EdsgerDijkstra #Plakalkül #HeinzRutishauser #BarbaraLiskov #FOSS #TodayInTech #KevlinHenney #YOWcon CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1