History of Code Language
Coding represents a programming language consisting of instructions created by programmers to be sent to a computer for task execution. Numerous programming languages are available, including HTML, Python, JavaScript, and SQL. Coding is a technology known to be new, but in fact, coding goes back in time to the 1840s.
According to Roller (2023), early programming languages focused on mathematical codes on mechanical tools, such as the Babbage difference machine, which was designed to calculate and tabulate polynomial functions. What is known as coding today, is coding images, graphs, analysis, text, calculations, and much more on software on laptops and computers.
Emergence of Coding
The idea of coding today evolved when Ada Lovelace, a British aristocrat, discovered that the machine Charles Babbage created for calculations could be a multipurpose machine because numbers could represent other things than mathematical notations (Wikipedia, 2023). Lovelace’s open mind was the precursor to designing a language capable of giving computer instructions.
Furthermore, while computer devices kept evolving, new coding and programming languages kept evolving to stay compliant with the advancement of the new machines created. However, some of the common programming languages that we hear about a lot nowadays were created not very long ago, such as SQL in 1978, Python in 1990, HTML and R in 1993, and JavaScript in 1995.
What is HTML?
HTML was the first coding language I learned about in high school. Notably, HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language, is a programming language that generates hypertext using a technique known as markup. The markup technique is what drives HTML to work, markup is where tags are used to specify various elements like headings, paragraphs, lists, links, images, and so on.
HTML is a simplified subset of SGML, which stands for Standard Generalized Markup Language, although it is gradually returning to SGML as it evolves. It serves as a markup language empowering developers to create web pages, web applications, and other digital content on the internet. Moreover, what is interesting about every coding language is that there are many versions of each coding language that just keep on evolving.
Development of HTML
HTML is a coding language that keeps on evolving with newer versions just like other coding languages. In research from Ahuka Communications (2014), Tim Berners-Lee, an employee at the European particle physics institute CERN in 1989, proposed an idea of a system that allowed scientists to share documents virtually on their computers, which is the World Wide Web (WWW) today. Moreover, in 1992, Berners-Lee and the CERN team released the first draft of HTML 1.0, which was finalized in 1993.
The most recent version of HTML is XHTML 1.0, where the “X” represents Extensible. This is a significantly more sophisticated reformulation of HTML 4.01 within XML (Extensible Markup Language) that is designed to replace HTML. According to FutureSchool (2022), all HTML files are written in ASCII text (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), so you can use any text editor to write a page, and anyone will be able to view your output in any browser because it is universally supported.
Furthermore, HTML needs to be complemented with CSS for aesthetic appeal and enhanced with JavaScript to add interactivity. Anyone with a basic text editor may create an HTML file and submit it to the internet to begin creating their website. After that, online data servers must understand what to do with the files you upload and how to get them to the client’s device. That is what the HTML code is used to determine. It’s the tying agent that ties everything together.
How HTML Connects to Writing/Reading Practices
Moreover, HTML is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about reading and writing practices. But HTML is an instrument that translates ideas, texts, images, and audio digitally to people. It’s a way to communicate with the browser and ensure that content is presented to a website maker.
In other words, HTML is a language used to communicate with computers or laptops to instruct them to display content on websites. When I visit a web page to read an article, blog post, or any other content online, HTML is responsible for displaying that content. In conclusion, HTML coding language is the enabler of the interaction of humans with digital devices and is a bridge between the writer and the reader in the digital space.
References
A brief history of HTML – Ahuka Communications. (2014, July 16). Ahuka Communications. https://www.ahuka.com/html-for-beginners/a-brief-history-of-html/
FutureSchool, B. (2022). What is HTML? What are the Benefits, Uses, and Features of HTML in the Real World? BYJU’S Future School Blog. https://www.byjusfutureschool.com/blog/what-is-html-what-are-the-benefits-uses-features-of-html-in-real-world/
Roller, J. (2023, July 11). Coding From 1849 to 2022: a Guide to The Timeline of Programming Languages. IEEE Computer Society. https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/insider-membership-news/timeline-of-programming-languages
Wikipedia (2023, November 1). History of programming languages. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_programming_languages