Computers need programming languages to function. That’s just a simple fact of life. However, these languages didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. They were developed by people for explicit purposes.

For the rest of the history of modern programming languages -- because C was really just the beginning! -- check out the infographic below. You can click it to zoom in.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about innovation, the future of work and remote work. The future of programming and AI is more nuanced than headlines ...

More programmers and engineers are adopting a practice known as “vibe coding,” a technique where the coder tells an AI assistant what to build based on what they feel will work. Clarence Huang, vice ...

Over the past few weeks, we've been discussing programming language popularity here on ZDNET. Most recently, I aggregated data from nine different rankings to produce the ZDNET Index of Programming ...