A person has a problem. They try something new. Other people build on it. Follow the ideas that taught computers to do more.
A plan for a machine
distance = speed * time
print("Hello, world!")
button.onclick = play
Designed for students meeting these ideas for the first time. All 29 languages from the supplied article are included, along with Lovelace and Turing. Dates mark the stated milestone; several languages developed over multiple years.
For a 42-minute class: spend 5 minutes on Ada and Turing, 8 on Assembly and the translation lab, 10 comparing Fortran / COBOL / BASIC, 12 exploring Python / Java / JavaScript, and 7 on the final transfer questions. Revisit the remaining stops in later lessons or let students choose one to explain.
Ask students: Who needed this? What was difficult? What did the language make easier? What did it still depend on?
Each experiment is a guided JavaScript-powered teaching model with an explicit code trace. The full history is always visible. Change an input or choose a scenario to see its result immediately. Drag the inspection slider to any moment; open Look inside the code for the complete trace. These are bounded examples rather than full interpreters for the featured languages. Code examples are representative and often modernized or excerpted. Pseudocode and analogies are labeled. The turtle example assumes the drawing commands are available, as in classroom turtle environments.
Quiz progress is stored only in this browser. No names, accounts, grading service, or teacher dashboard. “New learner” clears saved answers on a shared computer.
Historical care: SQL’s SEQUEL paper is 1974; Scala’s first public release is 2004; Ruby began in 1993 and was released in 1995. BASIC was led by Kemeny and Kurtz. COBOL was committee-designed, influenced by Hopper’s work. Java and JavaScript are distinct. Sources are linked at each stop.