Computers need programming languages to function. That’s just a simple fact of life. However, these languages didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. They were developed by people for explicit purposes.

For the rest of the history of modern programming languages -- because C was really just the beginning! -- check out the infographic below. You can click it to zoom in.

Since 2013, there have been metaphorically for programmers to build annual rankings of the world’s most popular programming languages. The rankings have traditionally relied on public signals such as ...

Over the past few weeks, we've been discussing programming language popularity here on ZDNET. Most recently, I aggregated data from nine different rankings to produce the ZDNET Index of Programming ...