Why do we know so little about programming languages, and what would have happened if we had known more?

Abstract

Programming language research in the last decades was mainly driven by mathematical methods (such as formal semantics, correctness proofs, type soundness proofs, etc.) or run-time arguments based on benchmark tests. This happened despite the frequent discussion over programming language usability. We have now been through decade after decade of one language after another domainating the field, forcing companies to switch languages and migrate libraries. Now that Javascript seems to be the next language to dominate, people start to ask old questions anew. The first goal of this talk is to discuss why the application of empirical methods is (still) relatively rare in PL research, and to discuss what could be done in empirical methods to make them a substantial part of PL research. The second goal is to speculate about the possible effects that concrete empirical knowledge could have had on the programming language community. For example, what would have happened to programming languages if current knowledge would have been available 30 years ago? What if knowledge about programming languages from the year 2050 would be available today?