from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
languages of choice
n.
{C}, {Perl}, {Python}, {Java} and {LISP} -- the dominant languages in
open-source development. This list has changed over time, but slowly.
Java bumped C++ off of it, and Python appears to be recruiting people
who would otherwise gravitate to LISP (which used to be much more
important than it is now). Smalltalk and Prolog are also popular in
small but influential communities.
The {Real Programmer}s who loved FORTRAN and assembler have pretty
much all retired or died since 1990. Assembler is generally no longer
considered interesting or appropriate for anything but {HLL}
implementation, {glue}, and a few time-critical and hardware-specific
uses in systems programs. FORTRAN occupies a shrinking niche in
scientific programming.
Most hackers tend to frown on languages like {Pascal} and Ada, which
don't give them the near-total freedom considered necessary for
hacking (see {bondage-and-discipline language}), and to regard
everything even remotely connected with {COBOL} or other traditional
{DP} languages as a total and unmitigated {loss}.
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
languages of choice
{C} and {Lisp}. Nearly every hacker knows one of these, and
most good ones are fluent in both. Smalltalk and Prolog are
also popular in small but influential communities.
There is also a rapidly dwindling category of older hackers
with Fortran, or even assembler, as their language of choice.
They often prefer to be known as {Real Programmers}, and other
hackers consider them a bit odd (see "{The Story of Mel}").
Assembler is generally no longer considered interesting or
appropriate for anything but {HLL} implementation, {glue}, and
a few time-critical and hardware-specific uses in systems
programs. Fortran occupies a shrinking niche in scientific
programming.
Most hackers tend to frown on languages like {Pascal} and
{Ada}, which don't give them the near-total freedom considered
necessary for hacking (see {bondage-and-discipline language}),
and to regard everything even remotely connected with {COBOL}
or other traditional {card walloper} languages as a total and
unmitigated {loss}.
[{Jargon File}]