Programming languages are vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks (Online). These languages have developed over a period of time and they were developed for specific purposes which other languages could not full fill.
ADA
Gasperani (2012:2) postulates that the US Department of Defense was the sponsor of Ada’s design in the 70s and was behind its adoption in the 80s. He further explains that this was developed by a scientist of French origin who studied at MIT. Ada was developed as a modern high-order programming language for the DoD’s complex systems that were at the time much more advanced as they could look ten to fifteen years ahead (Gordon:unkown). It would seem there fore the development of other programming languages was an evolution to surpass Ada that is still the backbone of the Defence department.
VB. NET
The development of VB.NET on the .net framework proved to be a turning point in Microsoft’s fortunes in terms of developing a programming language that is purely based on Object Oriented programme. The heart of VB is the form, or blank window on which you drag and drop components such as menus, pictures, and slider bars. These items are known as “widgets.” (Online)
C++
C++ was designed to organize the raw power of C using OOP, but maintain the speed of C and be able to run on many different types of computers. C++ is most often used in simulations, such as games. C++ provides an elegant way to track and manipulate hundreds of instances of people in elevators, or armies filled with different types of soldiers.(Stroustrup,1997)
Java
When Java was initially developed it was mainly to enable hand held devices to perform certain functions that are native to small appliance. It was initially named Oak but due to copyright laws that was discarded. It debut in the 90s at a Sun Microsystems conference and it was immediately adopted by Netscape at the time the biggest
References: 2013 [Online] Available from: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/programming_language.html [Online] Accessed on: 20/04/2013 2013 [Online] Available from: http://www.max-visual-basic.com/history-of-visual-basic.html [Online] Accessed on: 20/04/2013 Gordon, A., (unkown). The Ada Computer Language, Its History and Evolution [Online] Available from: http://www.gordoncomputer.com/techwriting/MyAdaResearchPaper.pdf [Online] Accessed on: 20/04/2013 Gasperani, F., (2012). Thoughts on Ada and Language Technology in Our Times; [Online] Available from: http://www.ada2012.org/files/Thoughts_on_Ada.pdf [Online] Accessed on : 20/04/2013 Stroustrup, B., 1997. The C+ + Programming Language; 3rd Edition; [Online] Available from: http://poincare.matf.bg.ac.rs/~milan/download/cpp/books/C++%20Programming%20Language.pdf [Online] Accessed on: 20/04/2013