Why Apple, Google, and FB Have Their Own Programming Languages

An anonymous reader writes: Scott Rosenberg, author of Dreaming in Code dissects Apple's Swift, Google's Go, and other new languages — why they were created, what makes them different, and what they bring (or not) to programmers. "In very specific ways, both Go and Swift exemplify and embody the essences of the companies that built them: the server farm vs. the personal device; the open Web vs. the App Store; a cross-platform world vs. a company town. Of all the divides that distinguish programming languages—compiled or interpreted? static vs. dynamic variable typing? memory-managed/garbage-collected or not?—these might be the ones that matter most today."

Comments

Re:Naming

[VGPowerlord]

Well, I heard* that the name Go was decided upon when an executive at Google needed to think up a name and was looking around his office.

On his computer at the time was a Chrome browser with the Google homepage open, but a Solitaire window was open in front of it obscuring the right half the page.

Now, if the Solitaire window was on the other side, we might have the ogle programming language instead!

* and by "heard" I mean "just made up"

If languages had mascots

[ArcadeMan]

Then Red Forman would be the mascot for Swift.

As in, a swift kick in the ass. Dumbass.