Assignment 1: Learning about Programming Languages
Due: Tues, Sept 3, 11:59PM
Find two programming languages that are new to you, and answer the following questions:
When was the language first introduced, approximately, and who developed it initially?
Why was the language created? What community was the language aimed at? What is unique, interesting, and novel about the language?
Show and describe a fragment of code (in the language) that you think is particularly interesting, and describe what it does and why it is interesting. You don’t necessarily need to install the language yourself and write your own code from scratch; examples from language documentation are fine.
Is the language still used today (as far as you can tell) for anything?
You should exclude the following languages from your search: C, C++, C#, Java, Javascript, FORTRAN, LISP, OCaml, Pascal, Perl, Python, Racket, Ruby, Scheme, SML, Visual Basic.
What to turn in
We will be using GitHub Classroom. This means you will work with git repositories and turning in your work consists of pushing the repository to GitHub.
You will need a GitHub account. Please sign up for one (they are free) if you don’t already have one.
Visit this URL in a browser:
After signing in, you should see a list of ID numbers. Select your UID from the list to associate your GitHub username with the UID.
Press "Accept this assignment" which will create a repository for your work.
Clone this repository to your machine. There are two template files lang1.md and lang2.md for you to edit. There is also an example solution in racket.md. You only need to edit lang1.md and lang2.md. Do not rename or move these files.
At any point, you may save your work and push the repository. We will grade the last push before the deadline.