On Tue, 2026-06-16 at 21:31 -0500, Mike Katz via cctalk wrote: > I'm sure there are more "dead" computer languages than there are > living > ones.
Jean Sammet published a "Roster of Programming Languages" in November 1970 "Computers and Automation," listing 165 languages. Only about 15 remain in use. The best-known and most widely still-used survivors are Fortran, Cobol, Lisp, Basic, APL, PL/1, and Simula. JOVIAL code is still maintained because it's deeply embedded in weapon systems, but apparently no new JOVIAL code is being developed. SNOBOL and COMIT apparently didn't actually survive, but I'm sure there's somebody on this list who is actually using one or the other or both. Anybody remember SPITBOL?
