5 ms·

Ask HN: What is the most niche programming language that is still written?

9 points by wking 4y ago

I would love to hear about the programming languages that I have never heard about. I don't mean Assembly or anything that is low-level, but mainstream. Even better if you have an example!

amalgamated_inc 4y ago
K
- wking 4y ago
  Whoa, I work at Crunchy Data. We focus on Postgres, but this K and KX family is wild. Reading about how it is used for Formula 1 data analytics
  - 082349872349872 4y ago
    cf https://t3x.org/klong/ https://t3x.org/klong/ for an even-smaller-audience relative in the family. poke around the t3x.org domain for more small-audience languages.
082349872349872 4y ago
I would not be surprised if TAL is still used for https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/nonstop.html https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/nonstop.html boxen. Similarly, https://www.unisys.com/client-education/clearpath-forward-libra-servers/ https://www.unisys.com/client-education/clearpath-forward-li... probably still uses its bespoke languages ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_Large_Systems#ALGOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_Large_Systems#ALGOL ) in places.
- wking 4y ago
  I wonder how much people who still write these languages are paid? I feel like it is one extreme or the other. You are rolling in it or you just don't know any better.
  - 082349872349872 4y ago
    My WAG is that they might have handcuffs of 2x mainstream, but aren't "rolling in it". Unlike K (or the APLs in general), all these languages are pidgin algol, hence not that difficult to train.
082349872349872 4y ago
Do you have any interest in academic languages? After a half a century or so without, BCPL recently got floats (for a flight simulator): https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/BCPL.html https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/BCPL.html I prefer the author's MCPL: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/MCPL.html https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/MCPL.html but have no idea if anyone is currently using it. [Edit: looks like Martin backported pattern matching from MCPL into BCPL ca. Oct 2022, so that's recent signs of life for both strains!]
2snakes 4y ago
Brainfuck lol
fhaldridge7 4y ago
Check "advent of code" solutions. Some of the people invent their own programming languages to solve problems.
tothrowaway 4y ago
JScript is Microsoft's JavaScript that can run server side. I guess it was a thing in the late 90s and early 00s. The "Click Commerce" web CMS/framework was largely written in it. They pivoted from commerce to medical research, and the software is still being used by dozens of institutions.
simonblack 4y ago
Z80 assembly.
_448 4y ago
Pike (https://pike.lysator.liu.se https://pike.lysator.liu.se)
rurban 4y ago
Rexx at IBM, but I guess there are several such internal langs used in similar obscure companies.

9 points by wking 4y ago

I would love to hear about the programming languages that I have never heard about. I don't mean Assembly or anything that is low-level, but mainstream. Even better if you have an example!

amalgamated_inc 4y ago

wking 4y ago
Whoa, I work at Crunchy Data. We focus on Postgres, but this K and KX family is wild. Reading about how it is used for Formula 1 data analytics
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  cf https://t3x.org/klong/ https://t3x.org/klong/ for an even-smaller-audience relative in the family. poke around the t3x.org domain for more small-audience languages.

082349872349872 4y ago

I would not be surprised if TAL is still used for https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/nonstop.html https://www.hpe.com/us/en/servers/nonstop.html boxen. Similarly, https://www.unisys.com/client-education/clearpath-forward-libra-servers/ https://www.unisys.com/client-education/clearpath-forward-li... probably still uses its bespoke languages ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_Large_Systems#ALGOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_Large_Systems#ALGOL ) in places.

wking 4y ago
I wonder how much people who still write these languages are paid? I feel like it is one extreme or the other. You are rolling in it or you just don't know any better.
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  My WAG is that they might have handcuffs of 2x mainstream, but aren't "rolling in it". Unlike K (or the APLs in general), all these languages are pidgin algol, hence not that difficult to train.

082349872349872 4y ago

Do you have any interest in academic languages? After a half a century or so without, BCPL recently got floats (for a flight simulator): https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/BCPL.html https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/BCPL.html I prefer the author's MCPL: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/MCPL.html https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mr10/MCPL.html but have no idea if anyone is currently using it. [Edit: looks like Martin backported pattern matching from MCPL into BCPL ca. Oct 2022, so that's recent signs of life for both strains!]

2snakes 4y ago

Brainfuck lol

fhaldridge7 4y ago

Check "advent of code" solutions. Some of the people invent their own programming languages to solve problems.

tothrowaway 4y ago

JScript is Microsoft's JavaScript that can run server side. I guess it was a thing in the late 90s and early 00s. The "Click Commerce" web CMS/framework was largely written in it. They pivoted from commerce to medical research, and the software is still being used by dozens of institutions.

simonblack 4y ago

Z80 assembly.

_448 4y ago

Pike (https://pike.lysator.liu.se https://pike.lysator.liu.se)

rurban 4y ago

Rexx at IBM, but I guess there are several such internal langs used in similar obscure companies.