Blog: 7 Programming Languages on the Rise

7 Programming Languages on the Rise
InfoWorld (12/25/10) Peter Wayner

Python, Ruby on Rails, MATLAB, JavaScript, R, Erlang, Cobol, and CUDA are among the niche programming languages that are becoming increasingly popular in enterprises. Python has a structure that makes it easy to scale in the cloud, making it popular with scientists because it is flexible and allows users to improvise and quickly see results. Ruby on Rails is popular for prototyping and cataloging data that can be stored in tables. MATLAB was built to help mathematicians solve complex linear equations, but has found a market in the enterprise due to the large amounts of data that modern organizations must analyze. There are several open source alternatives to MATLAB, including Octave, Scilab, Sage, and PySci. Meanwhile, several new applications, including CouchDB and Node.js, have boosted the popularity of JavaScript. The R programming language carries out multiple functions for numerical and statistical analysis of large data sets, and is used to examine the feasibility of business or engineering projects. Erlang combines traditional aspects of functional programming with a modern virtual machine that organizes machine code. Cobol appeals to programmers who work well with syntax that is more similar to a natural language. CUDA extensions are being used by enterprise programmers for machine vision, huge simulations, and complicated statistical computations.

View Full Article