To predict the future of software development, start with today’s cutting-edge programming languages
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Do we really need another programming language? There is certainly no shortage of choices already. Between imperative languages, functional languages, object-oriented languages, dynamic languages, compiled languages, interpreted languages, and scripting languages, no developer could ever learn all of the options available today.
And yet, new languages emerge with surprising frequency. Some are designed by students or hobbyists as personal projects. Others are the products of large IT vendors. Even small and midsize companies are getting in on the action, creating languages to serve the needs of their industries. Why do people keep reinventing the wheel?
The answer is that, as powerful and versatile as the current crop of languages may be, no single syntax is ideally suited for every purpose. What’s more, programming itself is constantly evolving. The rise of multicore CPUs, cloud computing, mobility, and distributed …