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See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_(computer_science)#Notation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_(computer_science)#... At least 18 prominent

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_(computer_science)#Notation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_(computer_science)#... At least 18 prominent languages use that syntax.

txcwpalpha 7y ago
That's more than I was aware of, but I would hardly call 90% of those "prominent". Sorry to any fans of those languages, but I doubt even most people here on HN have even heard about over half of the languages in that ":=" list.
- coldtea 7y ago
  If someone is not, not a user, but familiar with ALGOL, Simula, Pascal, Modula, Ada, PL/M, Smalltalk, Eiffel, and Oberon, they should not really promote their programming language ideas as relevant... The fact that they use some "new languages" (e.g. whatever derivative stuff happens to be in fashion atm) and are not even aware of the debt of those languages to the list above, doesn't qualify them...
  - Redoubts 7y ago
    > If someone is not, not a user, but familiar with ALGOL, Simula, Pascal, Modula, Ada, PL/M, Smalltalk, Eiffel, and Oberon, they should not really promote their programming language ideas as relevant... If programming is intellectual onanism for you, then sure you're free to entertain that idea.
  - txcwpalpha 7y ago
    Just because you're an old programming elitist that is familiar with completely out-of-use (and most not even maintained now) languages doesn't qualify you, either. I don't gatekeep book authors by their knowledge of the ancient Sumerian language, and anyone who tries to do so would rightfully be laughed out of the room.
Redoubts 7y ago
> At least 18 prominent languages use that syntax. There aren't even 18 prominent languages...
megla_ 7y ago
I genuinely haven't heard of 13 of those and I'd say I'm quite interested in learning about languages. The few that I know, were just briefly mentioned by a professor, so I don't know anything apart from the name. What qualifies as prominent to you? How old are you? On Tiobe Index only Pascal and Go are in the first 50, while half of them aren't even listed in the first 100. Sure they're important and had an impact on new languages, but most of them were made ~50 years ago. So many new languages were developed since then, which are far more useful and prominent than these legacy ones. If almost none of the modern ones have implemented it so far, is it really that useful/needed?
- coldtea 7y ago
  >I genuinely haven't heard of at least a third of them and I'd say I'm quite interested in trying new (and possibly unusual) languages. But perhaps not as interested in trying old and significant languages? >What qualifies as prominent to you? On Tiobe Index only Pascal and Go are in the first 50, while half of them aren't even listed in the first 100. Sure they're important and had an impact on new languages, but most of them were made ~50 years ago. Well, Lisp was made 60+ years ago, and C 50 years ago, so? Besides Go, Smalltalk, Ada, and Pascal would be significant languages in any book, and I'd add Simula, Oberon, Eiffel, and Dylan to the list. Seriously, if one haven't at least heard of Simula (the father language of OO) I'm not sure how qualified they are to pass PL judgement.
  - megla_ 7y ago
    >Well, Lisp was made 60+ years ago, and C 50 years ago, so? Well, they're still seeing widespread use, that's why they're on Tiobe, while others faded into obscurity. Those languages are historically significant, but nowadays they're basically useless apart from scientific use and maintaning old software. Maybe you should understand that the majority of programmers are younger than Python and don't study the same material they did 30 years ago, because a whole lot of history happened in that time. Also I'm not sure how not knowing about Simula makes me unqualified for anything. I've noticed, not just in this reply, but in all of your comments; your condescending tone and indirect addressing make you seem like an unpleasant person. Using these qualities makes one seem like some stuck-up pseudointellectual boomer.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_(computer_science)#Notation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assignment_(computer_science)#... At least 18 prominent languages use that syntax.

txcwpalpha 7y ago

That's more than I was aware of, but I would hardly call 90% of those "prominent". Sorry to any fans of those languages, but I doubt even most people here on HN have even heard about over half of the languages in that ":=" list.

coldtea 7y ago
If someone is not, not a user, but familiar with ALGOL, Simula, Pascal, Modula, Ada, PL/M, Smalltalk, Eiffel, and Oberon, they should not really promote their programming language ideas as relevant... The fact that they use some "new languages" (e.g. whatever derivative stuff happens to be in fashion atm) and are not even aware of the debt of those languages to the list above, doesn't qualify them...
- Redoubts 7y ago
  > If someone is not, not a user, but familiar with ALGOL, Simula, Pascal, Modula, Ada, PL/M, Smalltalk, Eiffel, and Oberon, they should not really promote their programming language ideas as relevant... If programming is intellectual onanism for you, then sure you're free to entertain that idea.
- txcwpalpha 7y ago
  Just because you're an old programming elitist that is familiar with completely out-of-use (and most not even maintained now) languages doesn't qualify you, either. I don't gatekeep book authors by their knowledge of the ancient Sumerian language, and anyone who tries to do so would rightfully be laughed out of the room.

Redoubts 7y ago

> At least 18 prominent languages use that syntax. There aren't even 18 prominent languages...

megla_ 7y ago

I genuinely haven't heard of 13 of those and I'd say I'm quite interested in learning about languages. The few that I know, were just briefly mentioned by a professor, so I don't know anything apart from the name. What qualifies as prominent to you? How old are you? On Tiobe Index only Pascal and Go are in the first 50, while half of them aren't even listed in the first 100. Sure they're important and had an impact on new languages, but most of them were made ~50 years ago. So many new languages were developed since then, which are far more useful and prominent than these legacy ones. If almost none of the modern ones have implemented it so far, is it really that useful/needed?

coldtea 7y ago
>I genuinely haven't heard of at least a third of them and I'd say I'm quite interested in trying new (and possibly unusual) languages. But perhaps not as interested in trying old and significant languages? >What qualifies as prominent to you? On Tiobe Index only Pascal and Go are in the first 50, while half of them aren't even listed in the first 100. Sure they're important and had an impact on new languages, but most of them were made ~50 years ago. Well, Lisp was made 60+ years ago, and C 50 years ago, so? Besides Go, Smalltalk, Ada, and Pascal would be significant languages in any book, and I'd add Simula, Oberon, Eiffel, and Dylan to the list. Seriously, if one haven't at least heard of Simula (the father language of OO) I'm not sure how qualified they are to pass PL judgement.
- megla_ 7y ago
  >Well, Lisp was made 60+ years ago, and C 50 years ago, so? Well, they're still seeing widespread use, that's why they're on Tiobe, while others faded into obscurity. Those languages are historically significant, but nowadays they're basically useless apart from scientific use and maintaning old software. Maybe you should understand that the majority of programmers are younger than Python and don't study the same material they did 30 years ago, because a whole lot of history happened in that time. Also I'm not sure how not knowing about Simula makes me unqualified for anything. I've noticed, not just in this reply, but in all of your comments; your condescending tone and indirect addressing make you seem like an unpleasant person. Using these qualities makes one seem like some stuck-up pseudointellectual boomer.