Choosing a Programming Language
Chris Britton
January 2008
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Decisions, Decisions
So, how do you decide which programming language to use? The first overriding factor is the last one in the preceding list: fit-for-purpose. For most business operational systems, you need a language that has good middleware and database facilities. For specialized work—for instance, writing a hardware driver—you might be forced to use C or C++. For some AI work, perhaps, a language such as Lisp or Prolog might be the only one that gives you access to the facilities that you need.
The second factor is platform choice. If your application must integrate with other applications, you will often find it easier to implement if it is written in the same language as those other applications. For instance, calling a Java method by using Java RMI is easier from another Java program. Calling a .NET application method is easier from another .NET application. Also, if your program must create a batch file for an existing COBOL program, it will be easier and quicker to write the new application in COBOL—especially, if you can use existing COBOL copy libraries.
The third major factor is the existing skills base of your programmers. Training an existing Java programmer to write in C# would probably take a few days, because the languages are similar. What would take much longer would be training your programmers in the .NET environment. For the first few months of their new life as C# programmers, they will be looking things up in the reference manual, asking each other how such-and-such worked, and spending time pondering (and, we hope, properly investigating) the best way to perform a new task. As time progresses, much of this additional effort disappears, and both productivity and quality creep up.
The net result of the last two factors is that choosing a programming language becomes a strategic skills issue for the IT department. You want to concentrate your resources on a few languages. You want to grow skills in languages that you think will have long-term benefits for your organization. However, you do not want to do it so fast that you are left with all of the programmers struggling with a new language.
Conclusion
The three major factors that influence the choice of programming language are the following:
· The language must be fit-for-purpose. Normal business-application development can be done in Java or COBOL, but specialist applications might need C++ or some other language.
· The choice of platform is critical. It's better to let the platform dictate the programming language, instead of letting the programming language dictate the platform.
· The skills of the programmers. Programmers are much more productive when they are working in a language that they know well, instead of working in a new language or on a new platform.
