11 Programming Languages That Lost Their Mojo

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(Image: geralt via Pixabay)

If you've been in the IT world for more than about five years, then you've had a chance to see programming languages come and go. New languages leap into the market (Hello, Swift) and others slowly fade into the distance (MUMPS, we knew ye well.)

While most of the world is programming in one of a handful of languages -- such as C++, Java, and C# -- many of us have experience in other languages, as well. In order to fully understand the benefits and drawbacks of today's development tools, it can be useful to look back at the languages that have come before.

OK, let's admit it, it can be fun, too.

Let me begin by saying that the 11 languages listed here are a fairly arbitrary selection of the possibilities. There are more than 100 contenders, but I was looking for languages that had seen at least a level of popular acceptance and wide use for one purpose or another. I'm also not saying that there's anything inherently wrong with any of these languages, or the people who loved and used them. (In fairness, I'll heavily imply that there's something wrong with the people who loved one of these languages, but we'll deal with that when we get there.)

[ Not dead yeat? Read Fortran: 7 Reasons Why It’s Not Dead. ]

If you used one (or more) of these languages I'd like to hear from you in the comments. And if you're still using one (or more) of these languages I'd really like to hear from you. So let's start walking through the Land of Lost Languages (in alphabetical order) to see just who remembers what.

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