The Past, Present & Future of Programming Languages • Kevlin Henney • YOW! 2025 @GOTO-

Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

This presentation was recorded at YOW! Australia 2025. #GOTOcon #YOW
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Kevlin Henney - Consultant, Programmer, Keynote Speaker, Technologist, Trainer & Writer @KevlinHenney

RESOURCES
https://bsky.app/profile/kevlin.bsky.social
about.me/kevlin
twitter.com/KevlinHenney
linkedin.com/in/kevlin
instagram.com/kevlin.henney
kevlinhenney.medium.com

Links
https://www.cse.sc.edu/~mgv/csce330f14/Backus78.pdf
dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/359138.359140
tiobe.com/tiobe-index
spectrum.ieee.org/top-programming-languages-2025
dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/362929.362947
craftofcoding.wordpress.com/2021/03/05/superplan-groovy
github.com/e-n-f/if-then-else/blob/master/if-then-else.md
twobithistory.org/2019/01/31/simula.html
microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/lambda-the-ultimatae-excel-worksheet-function
redmonk.com/sogrady/2025/06/18/language-rankings-1-25
medium.com/@SmokeAndStrive/stack-overflows-traffic-dropped-50-here-s-the-real-reason-6efc12c312c4
https://github.blog/developer-skills/programming-languages-and-frameworks/typescripts-rise-in-the-ai-era-insights-from-lead-architect-anders-hejlsberg

ABSTRACT
Programming languages are a halfway house between the metal and the mind, a bridge between the world of circuits and the world of applications, the engineered and the social. Programming languages are the medium through which developers codify systems and fragments. In each programming language is embedded a philosophy (or many) of how to think about code, how to organise thoughts, how to design. Programming languages also define skillsets, ecosystems, jobs, loyalties and communities.

When we think of software and technology we often think in terms of progress and rapid change. Programming languages, however, typically move at a far slower pace. Mainstream languages are still embracing ideas that are decades old. Constructs that developers welcome as new to their language of choice are often older than the developers themselves.
And over all this hangs the question, what of the future?
How will current trends, from FOSS to LLMs, shape programming languages and their use?

In this talk, we will take a tour of the past, present and future of programming languages. [...]

TIMECODES
00:00 Intro
04:57 John Backus: Fortran
08:53 Programming language rankings
21:08 Bjarne Stroustrup
22:14 Prog. languages chronologically ordered
28:30 Algol 68
34:38 if-then-else
36:40 Subroutines
41:35 Block structure
44:10 FP languages
45:20 LISP & Machine Learning
50:10 Betterigde's law
50:55 Outro

Download slides and read the full abstract here:
yowcon.com/brisbane-2025/sessions/3870

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Kevlin Henney & Trisha Gee • 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know • amzn.to/3kiTwJJ
Kevlin Henney • 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know • amzn.to/2Yahf9U
Henney & Monson-Haefel • 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know • amzn.to/3pZuHsQ
Henney, Buschmann & Schmidt • Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 5 • amzn.to/3GAPzN7
Edsger W. Dijkstra • A Discipline of Programming • amzn.to/3JlwHV6
Anthony Doerr • Cloud Cuckoo Land • amzn.to/4axghXq

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