OT: Language for the ages

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Patrick Finnegan wrote:
> Jules Richardson declared on Friday 14 October 2005 01:41 pm:
> 
>>Chuck Guzis wrote:
>>
>>>What would you write it in?  Clearly, you'd want to be independent
>>>of a particular software vendor, so the likes of Visual BASIC isn't
>>>an option. You'd also want to write in a language that isn't nearing
>>>obsolesence, nor one that's still evolving.  "Niche" languages would
>>>be out of the question, as longevity could be a problem.
>>>
>>>So what would it be?   My vote is for FORTRAN.
>>
>>Or Java; at least it's standard, strictly defined, open (in that
>>bytecode format etc. is documented), cross-platform, and even if it
>>*were* to become obsolete in x years I can't see there not being
>>emulators around on current hardware of the day which can emulate a
>>DOS / Windows / whatever box and therefore run the compiler or
>>runtime.
> 
> 
> Except that the program you write against today's Java won't compile 
> against tomorrow's Java.

It'll compile just fine.  Just with a bunch of deprecation warnings.

Peace...  Sridhar