Warning... the following may contain provocative statements and irony.

There are often a reference to a programming language to be 'outdated', and often that happens in comparison to another language that someone wants to
promote.

Say.. Delphi... many places management and project managers refer to it as outdated.

But what exactly means 'outdated'? Why is something 'outdated'?

Looking strictly at the wording, then Java is more outdated than Delphi, as Java was invented in 1991 based on a C syntax, and Delphi in 1995 based on a Pascal syntax.

And buzzwords like Garbage Collection was invented all the way back in 1959 when Lisp was invented. Heck even Basic had GC built in.. so that surely _must_ be an outdated feature! ;)

Then there is C, which C# and Java and C++ et all builds parts of their syntax on... that was invented back in 1972... must seriously be outdated... why on earth are anyone still using C/C++ to make operating systems, real time systems and other applications that are critical and where leaks and severe bugs are no no's as they have a huge impact on the use of the product?.. yes.. why on earth is that.... reflection... ah.. reflection..

What about the term 'reflection'....

Reflection is in its core the same as RTTI in Delphi (RunTime Type Information), but given a new shiny brand.
It was already available in Smalltalk invented back in 1970/71.. so surely that feature must be perfect examplified object of being totally outdated.

Hmm.. object... object...     object oriented... that word combination rings a bell somewhere... now... we all know that C# and Java are masters of OO... anyway so are the claims... but did they invent OO?... nah... we all know that Bjarne Stoustrup invented C++ and the object oriented scheme dont we?..

Nope.. not even close. It goes all the way back to 1960s, and the language Simula that was invented by a couple of Norweigians.

So OO is really pretty old stuff.. it cant be useful today that old stuff can it? It must virtually be outdated!

That rings another bell... virtual... virtual.. something that isnt there for real!... weird word... ... virtual machine.. thats really a buzzword in this decade... What is actually referred to are process virtual machines. Things that enables on the fly interpretation of semi compiled source code (also called Pseudo code or P-code). Interpreter... that goes all the way back to 1930 (and perhaps even longer) by a numerical interpreter by IBM... THATS old.. so we wont even spend a startrek second more on that.. that is definitely outdated.

However there is another variant of process virtual machines, that use a technique called Just In Time compiling (JIT).. ie. the source or semicompiled source (P-code) is compiled to machine instructions shortly before the time the instructions are needed while executing the application.

THAT sounds cool... it MUST be a novel and very modern thing since it even got a modern name for it... Managed Code, right? Nah.. VisualWorx (which is a SmallTalk implementation) did that almost 30 years ago... in the 1980s. Thats old! Thats outdated!

Well.. you get the picture I hope...

What imo should be outdated is how money controls hype that controls management that controls pure logic and common sense.

Lets take a step back and discuss what exactly what is the reason for new commercially popular languages today?

My take is that its not technical, practical or even (for the single user) economical reasons that is the reason for them.
Its a global battle about marketshares and control. In other words... something happening in the very high altitudes where the air is so thin that people living in such places will get problems thinking rationally.

Kim Madsen
TeamC4D