Ruby
Rust
Scala
Scratch
Vala
ReferencesStudents and developers who pay attention to either computer programming
history or current trends are already aware of a vast array of possibilities that
deserve some attention. The goal of this chapter is to introduce many different
languages available for you to use, some that are old and some that are new.
This short chapter does not teach you how to use these languages but rather
exposes you to them, making you aware of their existence and giving just
enough information about them to help you decide whether each one sounds
interesting or useful to you; this chapter also points to resources to help guide
your next steps. The introductions include information for installing and
getting started with each language on Ubuntu. Sometimes the version of the
language included in the Ubuntu repositories is a little outdated or is a free (as
in freedom) version instead of an official, proprietary version. If you discover
you need a more up-to-the-minute or a version that is not mentioned, check
the “References” section to find links to more information for most
languages.
The organization of this chapter was tricky. The original idea was to order the
chapter by how well known a language is, but that is problematic. Older
languages generally have better name recognition, even though newer ones
might be more commonly used. How do we measure popularity and use it to
enforce order on a list of programming languages? The people who use them
tend to form strong emotional bonds with those they prefer, just as geeks do
with text editors (emacs versus vi), email programs (web based versus
Thunderbird versus Mutt), and more important matters like comic book
universes (Marvel versus DC). Ultimately, it seemed like alphabetic order
would be best. If your favorite language is not included in this edition, and
you think it should be included in future editions, please email your
suggestion and reasoning to the author at [email protected] for
consideration.
You will notice an interesting mix of old and new languages here. Some have
asked why some of the languages are included, especially the older ones.
They are included because they are still in use in the real world. There may