Popular Programming Languages Research Articles

Programming languages for artificial intelligence

This paper briefly describes the two most popular programming languages for artificial intelligence applications: LISP and PROLOG. The capabilities and limitations of each language are reviewed in the context of establishing the main requirements placed on artificial intelligence languages. The nested interactive array language, NIAL, is introduced as a language that combines logic and functional programming capabilities. Through comparisons with LISP and PROLOG, it is shown that the NIAL system meets the basic requirements for artificial intelligence programming.

Should if… then… else… follow the dodo?

AbstractSome recent papers provide a psychological evaluation of two conditional constructs similar to those occurring in some popular computer programming languages. The findings indicate that the if… then… else… form is superior to the branch‐to‐label approach but that the former is not without disadvantages. The papers propose an alternative construction which has been evaluated and found to be superior to both the aforementioned styles. It is claimed that the preferred construct is not available in any language in practical use.This paper applauds the work done by these experimental psychologists and supports their conclusions but suggests that improvement of their favoured construct is possible. Further, it is shown that there is a widely available programming language which not only provides a construct closely resembling their own but also accommodates the improvement.

Computer Programming for Librarians

Over a five-year period in a graduate library school, 334 students from a variety of backgrounds completed a data processing course involving PL/I programming for library applications. Men and math/science majors enrolled in numbers significantly higher than would be expected considering the composition of a typical incoming class in library school. There was no significant difference in the performance of men and women, but math/science majors performed significantly better than others. There is also evidence that education majors may experience difficulty with a course of this type. An overview of the more popular programming languages is presented along with the reasons for choosing PL/I.