For a languageto get CALLED "dead" does not require any of those objective
criteria. It gets called dead if somebody hasn't heard anything about it
in a long time.
Somebody who hasn't heard anything about mainframes in years thinks that
mainframes are dead.
Somebody who hasn't heard anything about COBOL in years thinks that
COBOL is dead.
Most stuff being called "dead" is not by objective criteria; it just
hasn't been talked about much lately. Among THAT person's social circle.
I agree with most of your objective criteria, except lack of recent
update. While it is true that most active languages get frequent updates,
but that isn't requisite for not being dead.
Should we say that a person is dead if they haven't been to the doctor in
10 (25, 50) years? It would call for a wellness check, but hardly an
assumption of demise.
Recently some AI generated facebook post recounted Cliff Stoll's famous
tracking down of intruders. The same article said that Cliff died in May
2024. Cliff says that the news of his death is slightly exaggerated.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred [email protected]
On Tue, 16 Jun 2026, Mike Katz via cctalk wrote:
I'm sure there are more "dead" computer languages than there are
living ones.
However, what is the definition of a dead computer language. Here
are a few potential definitions (choose one or more or add your own):
* If the language is not running, as an interpreter or compiler, on
any currently manufactured computer. Running on antique
computers
or simulators doesn't count.
* If no one is being paid to program in that language or maintain
code
in that language.
* If the standards for the language have not been updated in more
than
10 (25, 50) years.
* If the language is no longer being used in a production/commercial
environment.
* If the language is only being used in the
hobbyist/historian/antique/simulation environments.
Here is an example question: There is an in production add on to an
antique computer written and being supported in Forth. The Forth
interpreter/compiler is running on a modern ARM based micro. Even
though the target of the product is an antique computer since it is
using a current technology micro with a supported forth, I would say
that Forth is not a dead language.
Here is a list of languages from my past, how many of them are
officially dead by one or more of the above definitions?
APL
Forth
Lisp
Algol
Dibol
Focal
Occam
Prolog
Watfor & Watfive
Ratfor
Flap
Ralf
Teco (editor and macro language)
Pilot
DB2
Foxbase
Any of the Hp Calculator languages (RPL, HP-41 User code)
I'm sure their are dead dialects of BASIC but BASIC is currently
supported as Visual Basic and Dartmouth Basic.
Please update this list as to whether any of these languages are dead
(by the current definition above) or alive. Also, please add new
definitions and languages that are dead or nearly dead.
Note: Dead dialects of a living language don't count.
