ABSTRACT
Almost any programming language one is familiar with can be used for computational work. Some people are convinced that their own favorite programming language is superior to all other languages, and this may be because the versatility of a language increases with one’s familiarity with it. Figure 4.1 categorizes programming languages from the perspective of scientific computing. They are grouped into i) high-level languages, ii) general-purpose interactive computational environments, iii) text processing utilities and scripting languages, and iv) special-purpose languages. This classification is by no means rigorous, but a practical grouping.
