Thread: The worst and most useless programming language?

  1. #16
    Worst lang. is Visual Basic - no one can argue with that

    Delphi Pascal fits in with VB also.
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  2. #17
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    You would be surprised how much COBOL is actually used in industry. I work as a software engineer and I actually support two COBOL compilers (COBOL74 and COBOL85). When I first heard about this I thought "you gotta be kidding, no one uses that langauge anymore". Infact there are a lot of applications written in COBOL for Banks, etc. The programs have been around for a long time and are very stable that companies don't want to change to something. While going through school I didn't learn anything about COBOL, only C++ and Java and now I use COBOL and rarely use C++ and Java.

  3. #18
    cereal killer dP munky's Avatar
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    I'd have to agree w/BMJ... COBOL is gotta be the most obsolite lang. ever. i understand it's still "widely" used, but bank software can be updated and just because COBOL is collecting dust but still "stable" doesnt mean there wouldnt be advantages to updating to newer langs.
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  4. #19
    It's full of stars adrianxw's Avatar
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    There are several products available for Object Oriented COBOL, here for example...

    http://www.microfocus.com/products/ocds/

    ... I've never used the OO versions but used COBOL for a while in the early 80's. There were some good ideas in the original COBOL, but they were ahead of their time, and remained largely unused, things like the SOURCE COMPUTER/TARGET COMPUTER - Grace Hopper could see back then, the concept of targetting multiple platforms and OS's - not bad really.
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  5. #20
    Banned master5001's Avatar
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    I'd have to say there is no such thing as a useless language. Granted some languages seem obsolete today but that doesn't make them useless just obsolete. THere are also a number of languages that seem to have a very narrow range. But that doesn't make them useless. And for the record VB isn't C/C++ but I'd hardly call it bad.

  6. #21
    cereal killer dP munky's Avatar
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    Originally posted by master5001
    I'd have to say there is no such thing as a useless language. Granted some languages seem obsolete today but that doesn't make them useless just obsolete...
    but doesnt that determine how "useful" a language is? i mean if a language is obsolite, why use it, if a newer language can offer something more then why go back?
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  7. #22
    Registered User adamviper's Avatar
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    i agree with OSR i feel that VB is not very good but if you don't want to be a real progammer use DRAG-N-DROP. then use VB.

  8. #23
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    Originally posted by adamviper
    i agree with OSR i feel that VB is not very good but if you don't want to be a real progammer use DRAG-N-DROP. then use VB.
    Disagree there. It's not as powerful, flexible, etc, as C++, Java, whatever, but it's good for what it does, which is to code apps quickly
    If you use C/C++, are you not a real programmer because you use STL? Are you not a real programmer because you don't code in ASM? Binary? etc.
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  9. #24
    Emotionally Unstable DarkViper's Avatar
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    lol this is hilarious.

    i havent programmed in all languages even, and ive only programed, like, .5% of them all. but i find the most useless that ive ever used was...well...pascal...i hated it....almost as much as java but java has some use...but pascal can be easily overrulled by c/c++ in my opinion, i dont know, i could be wrong.
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  10. #25
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    Originally posted by DarkViper
    i find the most useless that ive ever used was...well...pascal...i hated it....almost as much as java but java has some use...but pascal can be easily overrulled by c/c++ in my opinion, i dont know, i could be wrong.
    I haven't used regular Pascal, only Delphi 5, which is a kind of VB version of Object Pascal. Read that Pascal was originally designed years ago as a teaching language, not a "real" language for large projects. It was meant to teach programming concepts.
    Delphi is popular in Europe, and is the primary language where I work (why, I don't know). It has good database capabilities (or so I'm told; I worked for 1.5 days on a SQL query that worked in a test program but wouldn't work in code. Turns out parameters in subqueries are not handled well, but I didn't find where Borland documented this).
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  11. #26
    Seven years? civix's Avatar
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    Definately VB. I mean, theres so many people who do a little VB "programming" that run around on little script kiddie message boards calling themselves full-fledged programmers.

    Hell, i play that little http://www.neopets.com game every once in a while, and I always find someone in the message boards who says "I will program a neopets hack for you for 1000000 points, i'm the best programmer out there!!" (real title!) I came to found out that the idiot with the now disabled account programmed tiny things in VB.

    I also recently talked to him to see just how big his ego really is, and he asked me if I had any programming experience. I said "yes, advanced C++" And showed him one of my applications. His reply was "hahahaha, you suck! I know super-advanced visual basic and I can program in window and all you can do is text! HAHAHA"

    In my opinion, most strict VB programmers are living, breathing wallpaper. Thats why I never even bothered to learn any BASIC language. Too stupid if you ask me.

    And the runtimes! Oh, the runtimes. Just a little VB program could require more than a megabyte in runtimes: EXTREMELY STUPID!

    I rest my case.

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    Last edited by civix; 12-12-2002 at 03:10 PM.
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  12. #27
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    Originally posted by civix
    And the runtimes! Oh, the runtimes. Just a little VB program could require more than a megabyte in runtimes
    (WoOHoO! My biggest reply ever!)
    Uh, what do you mean by runtime? Time isn't measured in MB. Do you mean a VB app .exe is larger in size than than comparable C/C++ programs? If so, you're usually, maybe always, right.
    Can some VB doofuses be doofuses? sure, and maybe there's plenty of them, but that doesn't speak to VB.
    English can express some fantastic things. Doesn't mean that 6th graders spouting gibberish, or constantly trying to provoke by being offensive, mean English is worthless.
    No, VB can't do what C/C++ can do, but you don't need the Ford F-350 pickup to carry home your Christmas presents either.
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  13. #28
    Registered User mepaco's Avatar
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    I believe that all the VB bashing by non-VB programmers, or even people who have never even seen VB code, is way off. Yes, you can make stupid little apps in VB rather quickly, and some people think they are real programmers when they do. But, the main advantage of VB is that you can create a nice robust application without having to worry much about the GUI. I have programmed everything from ZIP utilities to a very large, company wide program to manage board specs, orders, and bills. I have a friend who coded a program where you can design a wing and it would put it through a wind tunnel simulation and provide all sorts of good information. VB has its problems but it can be used to create very complicated programs if you know how to use it.

  14. #29
    Confused Magos's Avatar
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    I've come across two languages that I (personally) don't like:

    1) Lisp
    It's slow, has an ugly syntax, and I don't like functional programming. I've heard that Lisp is used in AI and mobile phones, so it's obviously not a useless language. But I can't see why Lisp is used for those purposes, instead of another language...

    2) Ada
    The language itself is nice, but is completely worthless. There is nothing you can do in Ada that you can't do in C. In fact, when compiling an Ada program the code is first translated into C then compiled using a C compiler...
    It's only purpose is for 'safe programing', since the compiler screams if it detects any minor fault in the code. Practically, you can't write a program that crashes for other reasons than logical errors.
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  15. #30
    l'Anziano DavidP's Avatar
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    There aren't really any languages that are useless, in my opinion. There are languages that might not be suited for certain tasks, but every language has something that it can be used for.

    For example, the Logo language would almost never be used in the real world (although I have heard something about some new form of it called StarLogo or something like that being used for scientific research), but it is suited pretty well as a beginners learning language (beginners that are more of a newbie than BASIC programmers).

    What is this brain**** thing that has been mentioned? I want to hear more about it.
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