Programming Languages: History and Future This paper discusses both the history and future of programming languages (= higher level languages). Some of the difficulties in writing such a history are indicated. A key part of the paper is a tree showing the chronological development of languages and their interrelationships. Reasons for the proliferation of languages are given. The major languages are listed with the reasons for their importance. A section on chronology indicates the happenings of the significant previous time periods and the major topics of 1972. Key concepts other than specific languages are discussed. CACM July, 1972 Sammet, J. E. programming languages, higher level languages, languages, history, future directions, language interrelationships, programming language tree, programming language history, programming language future 1.2 4.2 CA720712 JB January 30, 1978 1:38 PM 2316 5 2316 2316 5 2316 2316 5 2316