| Language | Uses | Compatible Platforms | Compiled or Interpretive | Object Oriented or Not | History | About |
| C | ▪ Excels as a systems-level programming tool ▪ Gives you complete control over everything you do ▪ Not really a good use for casual programming ▪ Use for playing around with kernel code ▪ Use for writing a device-driver | Compiled | Dates back to first versions of UNIX. Was used to write most of the OS. The Linux kernel, together with most other parts of the OS, is also written mainly in C. | Forms the basis of C++, Java, Python, and Perl. Small language but devil is in the details, and all that control comes at a price. you must handle the allocation and deallocation of memory. Vast libraries for the language. Building web apps from scratch using C is going the way of the dinosaur. Standardized, general-purpose. One of the most pervasive languages and the basis for several others. | ||
| C++ | ▪ Desktop applications, CGI handler for web applications ▪ For a large systems-level project or application | Windows | Compiled | OO is the ++ added to C in C++ | Is all that C is and more. The 'more' part refers to a large chunk of object-oriented technology included, in addition to better type-safety, namespace support, templates, and exception handling. A very close superset of C. Vast libraries for the language. | |
| C# | ▪ Critical if you heavily use Microsoft ▪ Windows development | Compiled | OO | Developed by Microsoft as part of its .NET initiative. Evolved from C and C++. | General purpose. Microsoft's answer to Java. | |
| Java | ▪ Enterprise software development | cross-platform | Compiled to an intermediate format which is then interpreted | OO | Developed by James Gosling and colleagues at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. | Similar, but easier, than C++. Totally object oriented. Dispenses with the pointers of C and C++. Provides for automatic memory management. Poor runtime performance. Has a large standard library. Highly internet-aware. Central to the non-.NET programming experience. Critical if you are non-Microsoft. Streamlined version of C++. |
| JavaScript | ▪ Validate forms ▪ Create cookies ▪ Detect browsers ▪ Improve the design of HTML web pages | Interpretive | OO | Scripting programming language. Runs in the web browser on the client side. Smaller than Java with simplified set of commands. | ||
| Perl | ▪ Processing large amounts of text ▪ For producing a quick little program to do something useful ▪ Processing text through CGI programs ▪ Web server programs for a range of tasks ▪ For designing web aps | Cross-platform | Interpretive | Written in C. What can take pages of code in C, C++ or Java can be accomplished in just a few lines of code. Referred to as "scripting" language. Huge beast of a programming language. More than one way to do something. Poor execution speed. Open-source. Server-side. Often treated as synonymous with CGI scripting. | ||
| PHP | ▪ Web applications ▪ Well suited for web development ▪ For designing web aps ▪ Rapid web prototyping and anything WordPress | Linux server, cross-platform | Interpretive | Open source. Server-side. HTML scripting language. Can be embedded into HTML pages. Widely used. High speed scripting with caching, augmented with compile code plug-ins. It may not be a good long-term solution and there are better options for large-scale development. | ||
| Python | ▪ For producing a quick little program to do something useful ▪ One of the best languages to use when learning object-oriented programming | cross-platform | Interpretive | OO but not required | Originally developed for Unix and now available for everything from DOS to Mac OS to OS/2 to Windows to Unix-like systems. | Well designed, compact, easy to learn and fun to program in. Written in C. What can take pages of code in C, C++ or Java can be accomplished in just a few lines of code. Referred to as "scripting" language. Execution environment is more interactive than C, C++, Java, and Perl. Large standard library. Poor execution speed. Dynamically object-oriented. Open source. Utilizes automatic memory management. Highly readable, minimalist language. Not as purely object-oriented as other languages. Next step after PHP. |
| Ruby | ▪ Web applications | OO | Dynamic, open-source language. Focus is on simplicity, productivity, and letting the computers do the work. Many find easy to learn. Combines some of the best features of several other languages, leaving behind many of their shortcomings. Purely object-oriented. | |||
| SQL | ▪ Databases | A database computer language for managing data in relational database management systems. Critical to almost any application. | ||||
| Visual Basic | ▪ Desktop applications | A version of BASIC for graphical environments. Microsoft's Jack of all Trades language. A cross between BASIC, the various macro languages of Microsoft Office, and some rapid application development tools. VB apps are impossible to port to other environments, and you're at the mercy of Microsoft's changing specs for the language. Available only from Microsoft, only for Windows. | ||||
| VB.Net | OO | Implemented on Microsoft's .NET framework. |