If You Require Productivity, the Most Productive Programming Language Is Smalltalk
Although the study includes a variety of languages, Smalltalk comes out on top in general-purpose programming languages and also ranks very high in function points per month with fewer lines of code.
We understand that business leaders are interested in more than just product messaging from vendors. They require validation from third-party sources—people other than the vendor—to ensure that they are selecting the best programming language for their needs. Although this isn’t new to Smalltalkers, business leaders who seek unbiased research on the topic can turn to Capers Jones of Namcook Analytics.
Capers Jones has extensive experience and is the author of studies that compare programming languages, including productivity metrics. Capers Jones demonstrates several factors that contribute to the overall value of a programming language over its entire life cycle in a recent paper. Although the study includes a variety of languages, Smalltalk comes out on top in general-purpose programming languages and also ranks very high in function points per month with fewer lines of code.
| Languages | Size in KLOC* | Work Hours per Function Point | Function Points per Month |
| Smalltalk | 21.33 | 6.88 | 19.19 |
| Visual Basic | 26.67 | 7.85 | 16.82 |
| Delphi | 29.09 | 8.29 | 15.92 |
| APL | 32 | 8.82 | 14.97 |
| Perl | 35.56 | 9.46 | 13.95 |
| Haskell | 37.65 | 9.84 | 13.41 |
| C# | 51.2 | 12.31 | 10.72 |
| C++ | 53.33 | 12.7 | 10.4 |
| Java | 53.33 | 12.7 | 10.4 |
| PHP | 53.33 | 12.7 | 10.4 |
| Python | 53.33 | 12.7 | 10.4 |
| Zimbu | 58.18 | 13.58 | 9.72 |
| Quick Basic | 60.95 | 14.08 | 9.37 |
* KLOC = lines of code, which is a software metric used to measure the size of a computer program by counting the number of lines in the text of the program’s source code.
As Thomas M. Nies, Chairman and CEO of Cincom Systems, Inc. says,
“High value and low cost with a rapid return on investment at low risk—you simply can’t go wrong by choosing Cincom Smalltalk.”
Want to learn more about how Cincom Smalltalk can assist you in being more productive, click here.