The seven programming ur-languages (2022)

Article

• Proposes 7 foundational language families: Algol, Lisp, ML, Smalltalk, Forth, APL, Prolog
• Argues most languages are variations on these ur-archetypes
• Learning one from each family gives deeper understanding than learning many similar ones

Discussion

• Commenters suggest additions: proof languages (Lean), dataflow, constraint solvers
• Ruby’s Smalltalk roots debated — not truly Algol-family
• One commenter notes factual errors (e.g. Caml origin mis-cited); worth fact-checking

Discuss on HN