VizmayaTech

Many different programming languages have been created and then evolved over time, with enthusiastic followers of each. Innovation and changes to a particular programming language often results in multiple variants of the same language that are not compatible with each other, and hence not portable. Standardization aims to avoid this situation.

Standardization of a programming language has the following benefits:

1. Portability of programs. There is a high possibility that applications written for a particular hardware platform may be used on different platforms without much porting effort, if the applications were developed in a standardized language. This is because compilers/interpreters for standardized languages often exist for diverse hardware platforms.
2. Easier to maintain the software. Most software requires continuous maintenance and enhancements after the original release. Most of the time, different programmers work on such maintenance tasks. A standardized language ensures that there will be sufficient skilled programmers available to carry out maintenance tasks.
3. Portability of programmers. A programming language and its interfaces can be viewed as an interface between the programmer and the computing system or a hardware platform. If the different platforms support a standard programming interface, then the skills of the programmer is portable across these platforms.
4. Acceptability. Most business organizations would not even consider using a programming language that is not standardized. A non-standardized language is a big risk for business-critical software development.
5. Faster development. Standardization mandates ways of doing things, sometimes forcing to development activity to converge around these standardized ways. This speeds up development.
6. Standard library. In addition to the particular programming language, a common set of library functions for that language may be standardized, to support “generic programming”. This provides a language abstraction a level above the language itself, promoting re-use and faster programming. The C++ Standard Template Library is an excellent example for a standardized library.

In summary, standardization of a programming language definitely has a number of benefits, the most important being the portability of programs. Standardization does not stop innovation to a language, but it allows changes and enhancements to be incorporated in a controlled manner.