Made with Kleap
iW
Inter·Web
Home / Programming
The Language Library

Every language. Known, forgotten, forbidden.

From Python and Rust to Malbolge and Piet. A curated library of 100 languages across 7 categories — every one available to learn, every one bookmarkable, every one with a real, runnable first program.

Browse the library Skip to the forbidden ones
⭐
Popular
15
🎯
Niche
15
📜
Obscure
25
🧪
Experimental
18
🧟
Zombie (won't die)
12
🪦
Dead (but historical)
3
😈
Forbidden (esoteric)
12
🎯 Section

Niche

Lesser-known but powerful — quietly running critical systems behind the scenes.

💧 niche

Elixir

Functional, concurrent · 2011

Erlang's reliability, Ruby's joy. Built for systems that can't go down.

Used in
Real-time web (Discord, WhatsApp)
λ niche

Haskell

Pure functional · 1990

Pure functional programming. If you can name a monad, you can fit in.

Used in
Compilers, finance, research
🌀 niche

Scala

Functional, OOP · 2004

Java's rebellious cousin that decided to be functional too.

Used in
Big Data (Spark), backends
🍀 niche

Clojure

Functional (Lisp) · 2007

A Lisp for the JVM. Code is data, data is code, parentheses are life.

Used in
Data, web (Storm, Kafka)
📞 niche

Erlang

Functional, concurrent · 1986

Designed for phone switches that never crash. 9 nines of uptime.

Used in
Telecom, messaging (WhatsApp)
🦊 niche

F#

Functional, OOP · 2005

ML-family functional programming on .NET. Quietly excellent.

Used in
Finance, data, .NET
🐪 niche

OCaml

Functional, imperative · 1996

Powers Jane Street and helped birth Rust. Industrial-strength functional.

Used in
Compilers (Rust, Flow), finance
⚒️ niche

Zig

Imperative, systems · 2016

C without the preprocessor. Manual memory, zero magic.

Used in
Systems, game engines
💠 niche

Crystal

Object-oriented · 2014

Ruby syntax with C-like speed. Compiles to native code.

Used in
Web backends
👑 niche

Nim

Multi-paradigm · 2008

Python's readability, C's performance, Pascal's elegance.

Used in
Systems, scripting, games
🟢 niche

Julia

Multi-paradigm · 2012

As fast as C, as easy as Python. Made for scientists.

Used in
Scientific computing, ML
📊 niche

R

Functional, vectorized · 1993

Built by statisticians, for statisticians. ggplot2 stays winning.

Used in
Statistics, data analysis
🎯 niche

Dart

Object-oriented · 2011

Google's answer to JavaScript. Compiles to native and JS.

Used in
Mobile (Flutter), web
🌙 niche

Lua

Multi-paradigm · 1993

Tiny, fast, embeddable. The world's favorite scripting language.

Used in
Game scripting (Roblox, WoW)
🐪 niche

Perl

Multi-paradigm · 1987

There's more than one way to do it. Even if no one remembers which.

Used in
Sysadmin, legacy web, bioinformatics
📜 Section

Obscure

Languages with small but devoted communities, often ahead of their time.

🛡️ obscure

Ada

Multi-paradigm · 1980

Named after Ada Lovelace. Powers the Boeing 777's flight systems.

Used in
Aerospace, defense, avionics
🧮 obscure

Fortran

Procedural, imperative · 1957

The oldest high-level language still in use. Grandfather of them all.

Used in
Scientific computing, HPC
🏦 obscure

COBOL

Procedural · 1959

Still processing 95% of the world's ATM transactions. Y2K's villain.

Used in
Banks, government, insurance
📐 obscure

Pascal

Imperative, structured · 1970

The language of the original Mac. Taught a generation to code.

Used in
Education, Delphi legacy apps
🧱 obscure

Modula-2

Imperative, modular · 1978

Pascal's more disciplined sibling. Modular before it was cool.

Used in
Systems, education
🏔️ obscure

Oberon

Imperative, OOP · 2007

Wirth's final minimalist masterwork. Cleaner than Java by half.

Used in
Research, embedded systems
🗼 obscure

Eiffel

Object-oriented · 1986

Design by Contract, decades before Rust's ownership model.

Used in
Finance, aviation, Eiffel Studio
🎭 obscure

Simula

Object-oriented · 1967

The world's first object-oriented language. Invented a paradigm.

Used in
Simulation (its name says it all)
💬 obscure

Smalltalk

Object-oriented, reflective · 1972

Everything is an object. Inspired Ruby, Objective-C, and half of OOP.

Used in
Education, fintech (GemStone)
🪞 obscure

Self

Prototype OOP · 1987

Inspired JavaScript's prototype model. Pure object dynamism.

Used in
Research, prototype OOP
🌊 obscure

Io

Prototype OOP · 2002

Smalltalk's grandchild. Everything is a message, even integers.

Used in
Education, exploration
📚 obscure

Factor

Concatenative, stack · 2003

Forth's modern descendant. No variables — only data and combinators.

Used in
DSL design, scripting
🎾 obscure

Racket

Functional, Lisp · 1995

A programming language for making programming languages. Used to teach half of CS.

Used in
Education, language research
🎓 obscure

Scheme

Functional (Lisp) · 1975

Minimalist Lisp. Taught by the MIT textbook that shaped a generation.

Used in
Education (SICP), research
📜 obscure

Common Lisp

Multi-paradigm (Lisp) · 1984

The Lisp that wouldn't die. Still teaching AI labs new tricks.

Used in
AI research, aerospace
🔮 obscure

Prolog

Logic · 1972

Program in logic, not instructions. The dream that wouldn't die (and now: LLMs).

Used in
AI, NLP, expert systems
🪐 obscure

Mercury

Logic, functional · 1995

Prolog with types and purity. Smart compiler, slow uptake.

Used in
Research, embedded
🔴 obscure

Red

Functional, imperative · 2011

Rebol's successor. Compiles to itself, embeds its own GUI.

Used in
GUI apps, DSLs
🧬 obscure

Rebol

Functional, dynamic · 1997

Carl Sassenrath's masterpiece. Died and was resurrected as Red.

Used in
DSL design, scripting
🪶 obscure

Tcl

Multi-paradigm · 1988

Everything is a string. John Ousterhout's bet that simplicity wins.

Used in
Testing, EDA, scripting
🍇 obscure

Groovy

Object-oriented · 2003

Java's dynamic cousin. Powers half of CI/CD pipelines.

Used in
JVM scripting, Gradle, Jenkins
🔌 obscure

VHDL

Hardware description · 1987

Where you don't write code — you describe a circuit.

Used in
FPGA, ASIC design
🔋 obscure

Verilog

Hardware description · 1984

C for hardware engineers. Designs the silicon in your phone.

Used in
Chip design
🧠 obscure

SystemVerilog

Hardware + verification · 2005

Verilog's grown-up sibling. Adds OOP and verification tooling.

Used in
Chip design, verification
🛡️ obscure

Ada 95

Multi-paradigm · 1995

Ada with OOP and protected types. Still flies aircraft.

Used in
Avionics, defense
🧪 Section

Experimental

Where new ideas are forged. The future of programming is being written here.

🆎 experimental

Idris

Pure functional, dependent types · 2007

Haskell with dependent types. You can prove your code correct before running it.

Used in
Research, theorem provers
🅰️ experimental

Agda

Pure functional, dependent · 2007

Where code and math become the same thing.

Used in
Proof assistants, research
🐓 experimental

Coq

Proof assistant · 1989

Not a language, an environment. Proved C compilers correct.

Used in
Formal verification, math
🥩 experimental

Lean

Theorem proving · 2013

Proof assistant + functional language. Now used to verify AI systems.

Used in
Formal math, AI verification
🎩 experimental

GHC Haskell

Pure functional · 1990

The industrial Haskell. Type system tricks no other language can match.

Used in
Compilers, finance, research
💜 experimental

PureScript

Pure functional · 2013

Haskell that compiles to JavaScript. The dream of type-safe frontends.

Used in
Frontend (Haskell for JS)
🌳 experimental

Elm

Functional, reactive · 2012

"If it compiles, it works." The runtime errors just don't happen.

Used in
Web frontends
🧠 experimental

ReasonML

Functional, OOP · 2016

OCaml syntax for the JavaScript world. Now succeeded by ReScript.

Used in
Web (BuckleScript)
🪨 experimental

Roc

Functional · 2020

Aims to be the simplest, fastest functional language. Promising.

Used in
Building fast apps
🌿 experimental

V

Imperative · 2019

Claims simplicity, speed, and a 30-second compiler. Audacious.

Used in
Systems, web, anywhere
🐇 experimental

Hare

Systems, imperative · 2022

Drew DeVault's C successor. Designed for simple, auditable system code.

Used in
Systems programming
🃏 experimental

J

Array, functional · 1990

APL's descendant. One line replaces a for-loop. Readability: optional.

Used in
Math, data analysis
🔣 experimental

APL

Array, functional · 1966

Invented a keyboard of symbols. Code looks like hieroglyphics; math runs fast.

Used in
Finance, math
🅺 experimental

K

Array, functional · 1993

Shrunk APL into something mortals might use. Powers Wall Street.

Used in
Finance (Kx Systems)
🅀 experimental

q

Array, functional · 2003

Built on K. Used by the world's stock exchanges for real-time data.

Used in
Finance (kdb+)
🌷 experimental

Janet

Functional (Lisp) · 2019

A modern Lisp with built-in PEG parser and fiber-based concurrency.

Used in
Scripting, game scripting
🎶 experimental

Phel

Functional (Lisp) · 2021

Lisp for the PHP ecosystem. Functional flavor with the familiarity of PHP.

Used in
PHP + Lisp = ❤️
🌿 experimental

Fennel

Functional (Lisp) · 2016

Lisp that compiles to Lua. Used in LÖVE game projects.

Used in
Lua scripting, game dev
🧟 Section

Zombie (won't die)

Languages officially declared dead — but still running in production somewhere.

🧟 zombie

Lisp (original)

Functional · 1958

The second-oldest language still alive. Won the AI war. Then lost it. Then won again.

Used in
AI research (forever)
🖥️ zombie

BASIC

Procedural · 1964

Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Powered 8-bit dreams.

Used in
Vintage computing, education
🏦 zombie

COBOL (zombie)

Procedural · 1959

Officially 'dead' since 2000. Still moves trillions every day.

Used in
Banks refusing to migrate
🧮 zombie

Fortran (modern)

Modern Fortran · 2018

Older than most programmers. Newer than most of them too. HPC never left.

Used in
HPC, weather, physics sims
🏛️ zombie

Delphi (Object Pascal)

Object-oriented · 1995

Turbo Pascal's descendant. Refuses to die. RAD Studio ships it still.

Used in
Windows desktop apps, legacy
🟦 zombie

Visual Basic

Object-oriented · 1991

Drag, drop, deploy. Made desktop dev fun for an entire generation.

Used in
Excel macros, legacy Windows
🟪 zombie

VB.NET

Object-oriented · 2001

Microsoft tried to modernize it. Most devs moved to C#. It's still here.

Used in
Enterprise .NET shops
📱 zombie

Objective-C

Object-oriented · 1984

Smalltalk with C brackets. Still inside every iPhone, somewhere.

Used in
Legacy macOS / iOS code
❄️ zombie

ColdFusion

Scripting · 1995

Tag-based. Lived through Y2K. Lives through everything.

Used in
Government, finance
🅳 zombie

D

Multi-paradigm · 2001

C++ done right — said its designers. The world kept using C++ anyway.

Used in
Systems, finance
👑 zombie

Nim (legacy)

Multi-paradigm · 2008

The eternal 'next great language.' Beautiful, loved, underused.

Used in
Still maintained, still niche
🐘 zombie

Hack

Object-oriented (PHP-derived) · 2014

PHP with types. Inside Facebook, eternal. Outside, forgotten.

Used in
Meta's HHVM
🪦 Section

Dead (but historical)

Historical languages that shaped everything that came after them.

🏛️ dead

ALGOL

Imperative, structured · 1958

The lingua franca that time forgot. Every structured language owes it.

Used in
Historical; ancestor of C, Pascal
⚡ dead

ActionScript

Object-oriented (ECMAScript) · 1998

Powered every browser game from 2002 to 2012. Then Flash died.

Used in
Flash games (2000s nostalgia)
🌳 dead

Elm (archived)

Functional, reactive · 2023

Creator Evan Czaplicki archived it. Apps still ship. Still never crashes.

Used in
Maintained legacy web apps
😈 Section

Forbidden (esoteric)

Esoteric, satirical, and impossible. Code as art, code as joke, code as punishment.

😈 forbidden

Malbolge

Esoteric · 1998

Designed to be impossible. The first Malbolge program took 2 years to write.

Used in
Torturing programmers
🌀 forbidden

INTERCAL

Esoteric, satirical · 1972

The parody language that started it all. "Please do not read this."

Used in
Academic jokes
🧠 forbidden

Brainfuck

Esoteric · 1993

Eight characters. Infinite suffering. Turing-complete anyway.

Used in
Code golf
⬜ forbidden

Whitespace

Esoteric · 2003

Only spaces, tabs, and newlines matter. Your code editor will pretend it doesn't exist.

Used in
Hiding code in plain sight
🐱 forbidden

LOLCODE

Esoteric · 2007

HAI / CAN HAS STDIO? Yes. It's real. Yes, it compiles.

Used in
Meming
👨‍🍳 forbidden

Chef

Esoteric · 2002

Programs are recipes. The output is edible. Sometimes both.

Used in
Writing recipes that compile
🎸 forbidden

Rockstar

Esoteric · 2018

Your code is a song lyric. The hiring manager will weep.

Used in
Making your CV a hit song
🎭 forbidden

Shakespeare

Esoteric · 2001

Code is a play. Romeo and Juliet sort integers.

Used in
Dramatic programming
🦧 forbidden

Ook!

Esoteric · 2002

Brainfuck for orangutans. Three tokens: Ook. Ook? Ook!

Used in
Primate programming
λ forbidden

Unlambda

Esoteric, combinatory · 1999

Function-only. No variables. No escape.

Used in
Pure combinator calculus
❌ forbidden

FALSE

Esoteric, stack · 1993

Wouter van Oortmerssen's first language. Forth's designer hated it. (Then made Joy.)

Used in
Forth's evil twin
🎨 forbidden

Piet

Esoteric, visual · 2001

Programs are images. Source code is genuinely art.

Used in
Painting programs