SMRTR ProgrammingAug 1, 2026Daily.dev

Why Do Programming Languages Rise and Fall? Part 1

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Programming languages rise and fall like empires — some achieve immortality (C, JavaScript, Java), others fade after fulfilling their era's needs (COBOL, FORTRAN, Perl). C endures through raw performance and deep ecosystem ties; JavaScript through browser lock-in. Meanwhile, Perl's creative flexibility became its downfall, and Rust's complexity may limit its ambitions to replace C.

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