The Programming Language Landscape

Stephen A. Edwards
Columbia University

Fall 2014

The Diversity of Programming Languages

http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net has programs in over

1,500 different programming languages and variations to

generate the lyrics to the song 99 Bottles of Beer.

99 Bottles of Beer

99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer.

Take one down and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall.
98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 97 bottles of beer on the wall.
..
.
2 bottles of beer on the wall, 2 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, 1 bottle of beer on the wall.
1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer.
Take one down and pass it around, no more bottles of beer on the wall.
No more bottles of beer on the wall, no more bottles of beer.
Go to the store and buy some more, 99 bottles of beer on the wall.

Java
class Bottles {
public static void main(String args[]) {
String s = "s";
for (int beers=99; beers>-1;) {
System.out.print(beers+" bottle"+s+" of beer on the wall, ");
System.out.println(beers + " bottle" + s + " of beer, ");
if (beers==0) {
System.out.print("Go to the store, buy some more, ");
System.out.println("99 bottles of beer on the wall.\n");
System.exit(0);
} else
System.out.print("Take one down, pass it around, ");
s = (--beers == 1)?"":"s";
System.out.println(beers+" bottle"+s+" of beer on the wall.\n");
}
}
}

Sean Russell,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-java-4.html

Java
class Bottles {
public static void main(String
args[])
{ Sun, 1991
Gosling
et al.,
String s = "s";
for (int beers=99; beers>-1;)
{
Imperative,
object-oriented,
System.out.print(beers+" bottle"+s+" of beer on the wall, ");
threaded
System.out.println(beers + " bottle" + s + " of beer, ");
if (beers==0) {
Based
on C++,
C,some
Algol,
etc.");
System.out.print("Go to
the store,
buy
more,
System.out.println("99 bottles of beer on the wall.\n");
Statically typed
System.exit(0);
} else
Automatic
garbage
collection
System.out.print("Take
one down, pass
it around,
");
s = (--beers == 1)?"":"s";
Architecturally
neutral
System.out.println(beers+"
bottle"+s+" of
beer on the wall.\n");
}
}
Defined on a virtual machine (Java
}

Bytecode)

Sean Russell,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-java-4.html

C
#define MAXBEER 99
void chug(int beers);
int main()
{
int beers;
for(beers = MAXBEER; beers; chug(beers--)) ;
puts("\nTime to buy more beer!\n");
return 0;
}
void chug(int beers)
{
char howmany[8], *s;
s = beers != 1 ? "s" : "";
printf("%d bottle%s of beer on the wall,\n", beers, s);
printf("%d bottle%s of beeeeer . . . ,\n", beers, s);
printf("Take one down, pass it around,\n");
if (--beers) sprintf(howmany, "%d", beers);
else strcpy(howmany, "No more");
s = beers != 1 ? "s" : "";
printf("%s bottle%s of beer on the wall.\n", howmany, s);
}

Bill Wein, http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-c-116.html

C
#define MAXBEER 99
void chug(int beers);
int main()
{
Dennis Ritchie, Bell Labs,
int beers;
for(beers = MAXBEER; beers; chug(beers--)) ;
Procedural, imperative
puts("\nTime to buy more beer!\n");
return 0;
Based on Algol, BCPL
}

1969

Statically typed; liberal conversion

void chug(int beers)

policies
{
char howmany[8], *s;
s = beers != 1 ? "s" : ""; Harmonizes with processor
printf("%d bottle%s of beer on the wall,\n", beers, s);
architecture
printf("%d bottle%s of beeeeer . . . ,\n", beers, s);
printf("Take one down, pass it around,\n");
For systems programming: unsafe
if (--beers) sprintf(howmany, "%d", beers);
by design
else strcpy(howmany, "No more");
s = beers != 1 ? "s" : "";
printf("%s bottle%s of beer Remains
on the wall.\n",
howmany,
s); for
language
of choice
}

operating systems

Bill Wein, http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-c-116.html

FORTRAN
1
2
3
4
10

*
20

30

program ninetyninebottles
integer bottles
bottles = 99
format (I2, A)
format (A)
format (I2, A, /)
format (A, /)
write (*,1) bottles, bottles of beer on the wall,
write (*,1) bottles, bottles of beer.
write (*,2) Take one down, pass it around...
if (bottles - 1 .gt. 1) then
write (*,3) bottles - 1, bottles of beer on the wall.
else
write (*,3) bottles - 1, bottle of beer on the wall.
end if
bottles = bottles - 1
if (bottles - 1) 30, 20, 10
Last verse
write (*,1) bottles, bottle of beer on the wall,
write (*,1) bottles, bottle of beer.
write (*,2) Take one down, pass it around...
write (*,4) No bottles of beer on the wall.
stop
end

FORTRAN
1
2
3
4
10

*
20

30

program ninetyninebottles
integer bottles
Backus, IBM, 1956
bottles = 99
format (I2, A)
Imperative language for science
format (A)
and engineering
format (I2, A, /)
format (A, /)
First compiled
write (*,1) bottles, bottles
of beer language
on the wall,
write (*,1) bottles, bottles of beer.
Fixedpass
format
lines (for punch cards)
write (*,2) Take one down,
it around...
if (bottles - 1 .gt. 1) then
Arithmetic
expressions,
and
write (*,3) bottles 1, bottles
of beer on If,
theDo,
wall.
else
Goto statements
write (*,3) bottles - 1, bottle of beer on the wall.
end if
Scalar (number) and array types
bottles = bottles - 1
if (bottles - 1) 30, 20, 10
Limited string support
Last verse
write (*,1) bottles, bottle of beer on the wall,
Still common in high-performance
write (*,1) bottles, bottle of beer.
computing
write (*,2) Take one down,
pass it around...
write (*,4) No bottles of beer on the wall.
stop
Inspired most modern languages,
end

especially BASIC

AWK
BEGIN {
for(i = 99; i >= 0; i--) {
print ubottle(i), "on the wall,", lbottle(i) "."
print action(i), lbottle(inext(i)), "on the wall."
print
}
}
function ubottle(n) {
return sprintf("%s bottle%s of beer", n?n:"No more", n-1?"s":"")
}
function lbottle(n) {
return sprintf("%s bottle%s of beer", n?n:"no more", n-1?"s":"")
}
function action(n) {
return sprintf("%s", n ? "Take one down and pass it around," : \
"Go to the store and buy some more,")
}
function inext(n) {
return n ? n - 1 : 99
}

OsamuAoki,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-awk-1623.html

AWK
BEGIN {
for(i = 99; i >= 0; i--) {
print ubottle(i), "on the wall,", lbottle(i) "."
print action(i), lbottle(inext(i)), "on the wall."
print
}
Aho, Weinberger, and Kernighan,
}
Bell Labs, 1977
function ubottle(n) {
return sprintf("%s bottle%s of beer", n?n:"No more", n-1?"s":"")
Interpreted domain-specific
}
function lbottle(n) {
scripting language for text
return sprintf("%s bottle%s of beer", n?n:"no more", n-1?"s":"")
processing
}
function action(n) {
Pattern-action
statements
matched
return sprintf("%s", n ? "Take
one down and
pass it around,"
: \
"Go
to theinput
storelines
and buy some more,")
against
}
function inext(n) {
C-inspired syntax
return n ? n - 1 : 99
}

Automatic garbage collection

OsamuAoki,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-awk-1623.html

AWK (bottled version)

Wilhelm Weske,

BEGIN{
split( \
"no mo"\
"rexxN"\
"o mor"\
"exsxx"\
"Take "\
"one dow"\
"n and pas"\
"s it around"\
", xGo to the "\
"store and buy s"\
"ome more, x bot"\
"tlex of beerx o"\
"n the wall" , s,\
"x"); for( i=99 ;\
i>=0; i--){ s[0]=\
s[2] = i ; print \
s[2 + !(i) ] s[8]\
s[4+ !(i-1)] s[9]\
s[10]", " s[!(i)]\
s[8] s[4+ !(i-1)]\
s[9]".";i?s[0]--:\
s[0] = 99; print \
s[6+!i]s[!(s[0])]\
s[8] s[4 +!(i-2)]\
s[9]s[10] ".\n";}}

http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-awk-1910.html

Python
for quant in range(99, 0, -1):
if quant > 1:
print quant, "bottles of beer on the wall,", \
quant, "bottles of beer."
if quant > 2:
suffix = str(quant - 1) + " bottles of beer on the wall."
else:
suffix = "1 bottle of beer on the wall."
elif quant == 1:
print "1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer."
suffix = "no more beer on the wall!"
print "Take one down, pass it around,", suffix
print ""

Gerold Penz,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-python-808.html

Python
for quant in range(99, 0, -1):
Guido van Rossum, 1989
if quant > 1:
print quant, "bottles of beer on the wall,", \
Object-oriented,
imperative
quant, "bottles of
beer."
if quant > 2:
suffix = str(quant - General-purpose
1) + " bottles of scripting
beer on the wall."
else:
language
suffix = "1 bottle of beer on the wall."
elif quant == 1:
Indentation indicates grouping
print "1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer."
suffix = "no more beer on the wall!"
Dynamically typed
print "Take one down, pass it around,", suffix
print ""

Automatic garbage collection

Gerold Penz,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-python-808.html

APL

http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-apl-715.html

APL
Iverson, IBM, 1960
Imperative, matrix-centric
E.g., perform an operation on each
element of a vector
Uses own specialized character set
Concise, effectively cryptic
Primarily symbols instead of words
Dynamically typed
Odd left-to-right evaluation policy
Useful for statistics, other
matrix-oriented applications
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-apl-715.html

FORTH
: .bottles ( n -- n-1 )
dup 1 = IF ." One bottle of beer on the wall," CR
." One bottle of beer," CR
." Take it down,"
ELSE dup . ." bottles of beer on the wall," CR
dup . ." bottles of beer," CR
." Take one down,"
THEN
CR
." Pass it around," CR
1?dup IF dup 1 = IF ." One bottle of beer on the wall;"
ELSE dup . ." bottles of beer on the wall;"
THEN
ELSE ." No more bottles of beer on the wall."
THEN
CR
;
: nbottles ( n -- )
BEGIN .bottles ?dup NOT UNTIL ;
99 nbottles

Dan Reish,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-forth-263.html

FORTH
: .bottles ( n -- n-1 )
Moore,
NRAO,
1973 CR
dup 1 = IF ." One bottle of
beer on
the wall,"
." One bottle of beer," CR
Stack-based imperative language
." Take it down,"
ELSE dup . ." bottles of beer on the wall," CR
Trivial,CR
RPN-inspired grammar
dup . ." bottles of beer,"
." Take one down,"
Easily becomes cryptic
THEN
CR
Untyped
." Pass it around," CR
1Low-level,
?dup IF dup 1 = IF ." One
bottle of very
beer lightweight
on the wall;"
ELSE dup . ." bottles of beer on the wall;"
THEN
Highly extensible: easy to make
ELSE ." No more bottles of beer on the wall."
programs compile themselves
THEN
CR
Used in some firmware boot
;
systems (Apple, IBM, Sun)
: nbottles ( n -- )
BEGIN .bottles ?dup NOT UNTIL ;
99 nbottles

Inspired the PostScript language

for laser printers

Dan Reish,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-forth-263.html

The Whitespace Language

Edwin Brady and Chris Morris, April

1st, 2003
Imperative, stack-based language
Space, Tab, and Line Feed
characters only
Number literals in binary: Space=0,
Tab=1, LF=end
Less-than-programmer-friendly
syntax; reduces toner consumption
Andrew Kemp, http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace/

Prolog
bottles :bottles(99).
bottles(1) :write(1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer,), nl,
write(Take one down, and pass it around,), nl,
write(Now they are all gone.), nl,!.
bottles(X) :write(X), write( bottles of beer on the wall,), nl,
write(X), write( bottles of beer,), nl,
write(Take one down and pass it around,), nl,
NX is X - 1,
write(NX), write( bottles of beer on the wall.), nl, nl,
bottles(NX).

Remko Trocon et al.,

http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-prolog-965.html

Prolog
bottles :bottles(99).

Alain Colmerauer et al., 1972

Logic programming language

bottles(1) :Programs
relations:
facts and
write(1 bottle of beer on
the wall,are
1 bottle
of beer,),
nl,
write(Take one down, and rules
pass it around,), nl,
write(Now they are all gone.), nl,!.
bottles(X) :Program execution consists of
write(X), write( bottles of beer on the wall,), nl,
trying to satisfy queries
write(X), write( bottles of beer,), nl,
write(Take one down and pass it around,), nl,
Designed for natural language
NX is X - 1,
write(NX), write( bottles
of beer on expert
the wall.),
nl, and
nl,
processing,
systems,
bottles(NX).

theorem proving

Remko Trocon et al.,

http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-prolog-965.html

SQL

SELECT
CASE (bottlecount)
WHEN 0 THEN No more bottle of beer on the wall, no more bottles of
Go to the store and buy some more, 99 bottles of beer
WHEN 1 THEN 1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer. ||
Take one down and pass it around, no more bottles of b
WHEN 2 THEN 2 bottles of beer on the wall, 2 bottles of beer. ||
Take one down and pass it around, 1 bottle of beer on
ELSE
rtrim (cast((BottleCount) as char(2))) || bottles of beer on th
rtrim (cast((BottleCount) as char(2))) || bottles of beer. ||
Take one down and pass it around, ||
rtrim (cast((BottleCount)-1 as char(2))) || bottles of beer on
END
FROM
(
SELECT avalue * 10 + bvalue as bottlecount
FROM
(VALUES (9), (8), (7), (6), (5), (4), (3), (2), (1), (0)) a(avalue)
(VALUES (9), (8), (7), (6), (5), (4), (3), (2), (1), (0)) b(bvalue)
) as valuelist;

Kent Olsen,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-sql-967.html

SQL

SELECT
CASE (bottlecount)
WHEN 0 THEN No more bottle of beer on the wall, no more bottles of
Go to the store and buy some more, 99 bottles of beer
WHEN 1 THEN 1 bottle of beer on the wall, 1 bottle of beer. ||
Take one down and pass it around, no more bottles of b
WHEN 2 THEN 2 bottles of beer on the wall, 2 bottles of beer. ||
Take one down and pass it around, 1 bottle of beer on
Chamberlin and Boyce, IBM, 1974
ELSE
rtrim (cast((BottleCount) as char(2))) || bottles of beer on th
Declarative
language
for databases
rtrim (cast((BottleCount)
as char(2)))
|| bottles
of beer. ||
Take one down and pass it around, ||
rtrim (cast((BottleCount)-1
as char(2)))
bottles
of beer on
Semantics
based ||
onthe
relational
END
model
FROM
(
Queries on tables: select with
SELECT avalue * 10 + bvalue as bottlecount
predicates, joining, aggregating
FROM
(VALUES (9), (8), (7), (6), (5), (4), (3), (2), (1), (0)) a(avalue)
(VALUES (9), (8), (7), (6),
(5), (4),
(3), optimization:
(2), (1), (0)) b(bvalue)
Database
query
) as valuelist;

declaration to procedure

Kent Olsen,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-sql-967.html

LISP

(defun bottles-of-bier (n)

(case n
(0
(No more bottles of beer on the wall no more bottles of beer.
Go to the store and buy some more 99 bottles of beer on the wa
(1
(1 bottle of beer on the wall 1 bottle of beer.
Take one down and pass it around no more bottles of beer on the
,@(bottles-of-bier 0)))
(2
(2 bottles of beer on the wall 2 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around 1 bottle of beer on the wall.
,@(bottles-of-bier 1)))
(t
(,n bottles of beer on the wall ,n bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around
,(1- n) bottles of beer on the wall.
,@(bottles-of-bier (1- n))))))

jimka, http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-lisp-1465.html

LISP
McCarthy, MIT, 1958

(defun bottles-of-bier (n)

Functional: recursive, list-focused
(case n
(0
functions
(No more bottles of beer on the wall no more bottles of beer.
Go to the store and buy
some more
99 bottles
ofLambda
beer on the wa
Semantics
from
Churchs
(1
(1 bottle of beer on the Calculus
wall 1 bottle of beer.
Take one down and pass it around no more bottles of beer on the
Simple, heavily parenthesized
,@(bottles-of-bier 0)))
(2
S-expression syntax
(2 bottles of beer on the wall 2 bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass Dynamically
it around 1 bottle
typed of beer on the wall.
,@(bottles-of-bier 1)))
(t
Automatic garbage collection
(,n bottles of beer on the wall ,n bottles of beer.
Take one down and pass it around
Originally for AI applications
,(1- n) bottles of beer on the wall.
,@(bottles-of-bier (1- n))))))

Dialects: Scheme and Common Lisp

jimka, http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-lisp-1465.html

Haskell
bottles ::
bottles n
| n == 0
| n == 1
| n > 1

Int -> String

= "no more bottles"
= "1 bottle"
= show n ++ " bottles"

verse :: Int -> String

verse n
| n == 0 = "No more bottles of beer on the wall, "
++ "no more bottles of beer.\n"
++ "Go to the store and buy some more, "
++ "99 bottles of beer on the wall."
| n > 0 = bottles n ++ " of beer on the wall, "
++ bottles n
++ " of beer.\n"
++ "Take one down and pass it around, "
++ bottles (n-1) ++ " of beer on the wall.\n"
main

= mapM (putStrLn . verse) [99,98..0]

Simon Johansson,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-haskell-1613.html

Haskell

Peyton Jones et al., 1990

bottles ::
bottles n
| n == 0
| n == 1
| n > 1

Int -> String

Functional

= "no more bottles"

Pure:
= "1 bottle"
= show n ++ " bottles"

no side-effects

Lazy: computation only on

demand; infinite data structures

verse :: Int -> String

verse n
| n == 0 = "No more bottles Statically
of beer ontyped;
the wall,
" inferred
types
++ "no more bottles of beer.\n"
++ "Go to the store
and buydata
some types,
more, "pattern
Algebraic
++ "99 bottles of beer on the wall."
matching,
lists,
strings
| n > 0 = bottles n ++ " of
beer on the
wall,
"
++ bottles n
++ " of beer.\n" Great for compilers,
++ "Take one down
and pass it around,
"
domain-specific
languages,
type
++ bottles (n-1) ++ " of beer on the wall.\n"

system research

main

= mapM (putStrLn . verse) [99,98..0]

Related to ML, OCaml

Simon Johansson,
http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-haskell-1613.html