[Info-vax] Better languages than BASIC

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 18:30:07 -0000 (UTC), Simon Clubley wrote:

> If you want to write business applications, then either Java or a subset
> of C++. C++ subset to be chosen based on programmer skillsets and the
> problem to be solved.

Kotlin is an open-source alternative to Java that does not have Oracle’s 
rapacious fingers all over it. Google has been adopting it for Android 
development, for example.

> If you want to write modern-day CUSPs, then either C or C++.
> 
> If you want a safety-critical language (for completion only, as BASIC
> was never suitable here), then something like Ada.

Rust is gaining some popularity for this. The Linux kernel is putting in 
place infrastructure for writing device drivers in Rust, and there is some 
intention to go beyond this in future.

> There are other areas that BASIC was never suitable for, such as number
> crunching. Depending on your requirements, knowledge, mindset,
> etc, then either stay with Fortran, or drive an analysis package from
> something like Python.

Python is very heavily used for professional-quality data analysis 
nowadays, with toolkits like NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, Matplotlib and Jupyter.