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From: EJon <ejones7@ibm.net>
Subject: How old time languages survive
Date: 1997/03/29
Message-ID: <333D9376.40DE@ibm.net>#1/1
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References: <3339F210.69E3@dynamite.com.au>
 <5hbov5$11su@news.rhrz.uni-bonn.de>
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Reply-To: ejones7@ibm.net
Newsgroups: 
 comp.programming.threads,comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.pl1,comp.lang.cobol
Date: 1997-03-29T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


It occurred to me that one reason that many old, old languages
have survived is that they consistently "pilfer" styles and
features from newer langauges and eventually squash attempts
by these "upstart" languages to gain foothold and territory
by encroaching on areas where these older languages have 
longer existence and usage.
 
For instance, PL/1 has acquired some oo features.  Cobol 
keeps promising to deliver these.  Can OO Fortran be far
behind (yes, I read the DDJ on OO Fortran...)?  C/C++ 
stole ideas from ADA for its ++ attitude and "pointers"
from PL/1.