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A Cultural Diffusion Model For The Rise And Fall Of Programming Languages, Sergi Valverde, Ricard V. Solé

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

Our interaction with complex computing machines is mediated by programming languages (PLs) which constitute one of the major innovations in the evolution of technology. PLs allowed a flexible, scalable and fast use of hardware and are largely responsible for shaping the history of information technology since the rise of computers in the 1950s. The rapid growth and impact of computers was followed closely by the development of programming languages. As it occurs with natural, human languages, they emerged and got extinct. There has been always a diversity of coexisting PLs that somewhat compete among them, while occupying special niches. Here …