From the Net:  Selecting a Programming Language Made Easy

With such a large selection of programming languages it can be
difficult to choose one for a particular project.  Reading
manuals to evaluate the languages is a time consuming process.
On the other hand, most people already have a fairly good idea of
how various automobiles compare.  So in order to assist those
trying to choose a language, we have prepared a chart that
matches programming languages with comparable automobiles.

Language:       Equivalent:

Assembler       A Formula I race car.  Very fast, but difficult to
                drive and expensive to maintain.

FORTRAN-II      A Model T Ford.  Once it was king of the road.

FORTRAN-IV      A Model A Ford.

FORTRAN-77      A six-cylinder Ford Fairlane with standard
                transmission and no seat belts.

COBOL           A delivery van.  It's bulky and ugly, but it does
                the work.

BASIC           A second-hand Rambler with a rebuilt engine and
                patched upholstery.  Your dad bought it for you to
                learn to drive.   You'll ditch the car as soon as
                you can afford a new one.

PL/1            A Cadillac convertible with automatic
                transmission, a two-tone paint job, white-wall
                tires, chrome exhaust pipes, and fuzzy dice
                hanging in the windshield.

C               A black Firebird, the all-macho car.  Comes with
                optional seat belts (lint) and an optional fuzz
                buster (escape to assembler).

ALGOL-60        An Austin Mini.  Boy, that's a small car!

Pascal          A Volkswagen Beetle.  It's small, but sturdy.
                Was once popular with intellectuals.

Modula-II       A Volkswagen Rabbit with a trailer hitch.

ALGOL-68        An Aston Martin.  An impressive car, but
                not just anyone can drive it.

LISP            An electric car.  It's simple, but slow.
                Seat belts are not available.

PROLOG/LUCID    Prototype concept-cars.

Maple/MACSYMA   All terrain vehicles.

Forth           A go-cart.

LOGO            A kiddie's replica of a Rolls Royce.  Comes with a
                real engine and a working horn.

APL             A double decker bus.  It takes rows and columns of
                passengers to the same place all at the same time.
                But it drives only in reverse gear, and is
                instrumented in Greek.

Ada             An army-green Mercedes Benz staff car.  Power
                steering, power brakes, and automatic transmission
                are all standard.  No other colors or options are
                available.  If it's good enough for the generals,
                it's good enough for you. Manufacturing delays due
                to difficulties in reading the design
                specifications are starting to clear up.

(written by:)                           (appeared approx 1988 in:)
Daniel Salomon & David Rosenblueth      The Communicator
University of Waterloo                  Hewlett Packard Company
Department of Computer Science          Fort Collins Systems Division
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1       3404 East Harmony Road
(Reproduced *without* permission.)      Fort Collins, CO 80525

*EOF(AUTOLANG.TXT)
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