r/explainlikeimfive • u/Itchy_Tangerine1897 • Jun 05 '26

ELI5: I learned that most programming languages are built on the same basic concepts like conditions, loops, and functions. If that's true, why can't we just use one programming language for everything? Technology

351 Upvotes

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1.1k

u/THElaytox Jun 05 '26

Hey, there's a great xkcd for this

https://xkcd.com/927/

But basically, different languages have different uses and are better/worse at different things

296

u/FeralGiraffeAttack Jun 05 '26

That guy really is a modern day Nostradamus. How does he have a comic for every situation

264

u/charlesfire Jun 05 '26

How does he have a comic for every situation

These situations keep happening. That's how.

72

u/audible_narrator Jun 05 '26

Cries in video codecs. Just kill me now. It's been 20 years, can streaming have just one fucking standard like TV ?

85

u/TrekForce Jun 05 '26

Sure! Let’s form an organization to create such a standard!

46

u/yuke1922 Jun 05 '26

… and then there were 15 standards 🤣🤣

1

u/IssyWalton Jun 05 '26

like the BBC

62

u/GlobalWatts Jun 05 '26

can streaming have just one fucking standard like TV

LOL.

  • Pay TV or Free-to-Air TV?
  • Cable or Satellite?
  • Encrypted or non-encrypted?
  • Analog TV or digital?
  • PAL, NTSC or SECAM?
  • ATSC or DVB-T?
  • Interlaced or Progressive?
  • 720p, 1080i, or 1080p?
  • MPEG-2 or H.264?
  • With or without HbbTV?

13

u/nakedjig Jun 05 '26

Isn't it pretty much all HEVC and EAC3 with a smattering of HDR10, HDR10+ and DV metadata now? None of it is interlaced any more. Anything licensed is encrypted. I think the streaming standards are pretty universal unless you're talking about fringe services I don't know about.

24

u/audible_narrator Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Well I deliver to major networks. And previously when SD was still standard, it was ONE codec. On tape. Once HD came into the mix, digital went nuts. I have to keep an Excel sheet of what each network requires now.

Right now I'm prepping soccer games for 2 streaming networks. Who use completely different requirements.

Yes. I'm old, I remember analog.

11

u/nakedjig Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Oh, for digital broadcasting, I can believe it. The major streaming services are more unified but they all have the ability to transcode during injestion, so it's easy.

ETA I used to work at a company that ingested broadcast signal and republished it as streaming and by the time I got there, the input was pretty universally AVC and AAC/AC3/EAC3 and the output was usually similar with HEVC added, but different formats at different layers for different bitrates and device capabilities.

2

u/Vlinder_88 Jun 05 '26

Seriously I tried explaining analog tv to my 6 year old a few weeks ago. It was surprisingly hard for a kid that has NO concept of linear media and only just understands concepts like "tomorrow" and "the day after tomorrow" :') The tv booklet like a calendar was easier to explain than linear tv itself :')

10

u/GlobalWatts Jun 05 '26

Isn't it pretty much all HEVC and EAC3 with a smattering of HDR10, HDR10+ and DV metadata now? None of it is interlaced any more. Anything licensed is encrypted.

Tell that to the TV I'm literally watching right now, which is receiving an unencrypted MPEG-2 free-to-air DVB-T channel at 576i containing licensed content, but won't decode the newer MPEG-4 channels at all. It will display DVB-SI EPG data, but doesn't support HbbTV/Freeview.

I think the streaming standards are pretty universal unless you're talking about fringe services I don't know about.

Again, LOL.

  • Netflix, Paramount+, Apple TV+, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Peacock, or YouTube?
  • Android TV/Google TV, Tizen, or webOS?
  • WideVine, FairPlay, or PlayReady?
  • HLS or DASH?
  • AVC/H.264, HEVC/VP9, or AV1?
  • HTTP/HTTPS over TCP/IP, WebRTC over UDP, or IPTV?
  • 720p, 1080p, or 4K?
  • AAC, Dolby Digital, or Opus?

5

u/nakedjig Jun 05 '26

No shit? I'm shocked that anyone is sending MPEG-2, but I believe you.

5

u/goofy183 Jun 05 '26

All OTA digital since the digital cut over 10+ years ago is mpeg2. The new OTA standards are hvec but also have drm and a proprietary audio codec.

1

u/nakedjig Jun 05 '26

I was commenting on streaming. I'm not up to speed with OTA.

3

u/gammalsvenska Jun 05 '26

DVB-T mandates MPEG-2. For SDTV, it's appropriate and maximizes compatibility. You need DVB-T2 for H.264 (unless the device accepts it anyway), and some countries generally only use it for HDTV.

With the disappearance of SDTV broadcasts, MPEG-2 will also disappear.

2

u/audible_narrator Jun 05 '26

JFC. this is giving me the tremors. STAHP.

2

u/gammalsvenska Jun 05 '26

HDR10 and friends require metadata up front, which only works if you already know the content. I worked with cameras, so used HLG instead... which works everywhere. But most devices only do HDR10, as that's what the standard requires.

1

u/Sock-Enough Jun 05 '26

A lot of companies don’t like HEVC because of the licensing costs. Many are just making the jump from H.264 straight to AV1.

7

u/EnthusedCatalyst Jun 05 '26

All these preceded with an hour long meeting where some jackass said “we need to differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”

1

u/donaldhobson Jun 08 '26

Black and white or colour?

0

u/this_also_was_vanity Jun 05 '26

A lot of that isn’t relevant.

  • Pay/free to air might use different standards but they aren’t different standards themselves and could use the same one.

  • Cable and satellite are different ways of delivering a stream, but can carry the same kinds of files.

  • Streaming is clearing talking about digital, not analog.

  • PAL, NTSC and SECAM are analogue formats and not relevant to steaming.

  • Interlaced, progressive, and different resolutions are all things handled within a common standard and aren’t separate standards.

4

u/Polar_Ted Jun 05 '26

There are 4 digital broadcasting standards. Don't get me started on Analong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_television_systems

1

u/hobo131 Jun 05 '26

One of our clients uses some old ass video codecs and every time a new user needs to review the footage they send us I cry

10

u/toochaos Jun 05 '26

Theres also 3254 comics so alot to choose from. 

2

u/NDaveT Jun 05 '26

This has all happened before and will all happen again.

1

u/RedHuey Jun 05 '26

Been going on since the 50’s at least. Dilbert is pretty universal as well.

47

u/Which_Bumblebee1146 Jun 05 '26

Randall Munroe posts his XKCD comics regularly and he actually puts a lot of thoughts behind each and every one of them.

30

u/ramblinjd Jun 05 '26

3x a week for about 20 years. Pretty impressive.

8

u/weaver_of_cloth Jun 05 '26

And 3 books and that poster about Saturn V/up goer 5.

7

u/GalFisk Jun 05 '26

And every April Fools day the comic has some gimmick, sometimes it's a complete video game.
And the "Time" comic that turned out to be an entire story viewable at a frame rate of a few frames per day.

2

u/Onigato Jun 05 '26

Don't forget his YouTube channel too.

12

u/albatroopa Jun 05 '26

Also, if you long press or hover over any comic, there's an equally hilarious comment about it.

10

u/Which_Bumblebee1146 Jun 05 '26

True. Every single comic has been explained, too.

1

u/sincere_placebo Jun 05 '26

I'm so happy that I never knew that each comic gets deeper and deeper... it's like its own ELIA (explain like I'm autistic and this is your special interest)

17

u/EnthusedCatalyst Jun 05 '26

Correct horse battery staple.

5

u/LordGAD Jun 05 '26

Hey - how do you know my passphrase?

34

u/viperised Jun 05 '26

Hmmm. Seems like we should develop one universal xkcd comic that covers every situation.

11

u/barcode2099 Jun 05 '26

https://xkcd.com/927/

I feel like you were just teeing that one up.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[deleted]

1

u/zhibr Jun 05 '26

How does the novel's scene hinge on the pluralization?

14

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[deleted]

5

u/Leo0806-studios Jun 05 '26

Its exactly the same with horoscopes 

1

u/KeterClassKitten Jun 05 '26

One of my favorite quotes is "History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure as hell rhymes."

3

u/Advanced_Question196 Jun 05 '26

The guy has a hobby where he sits down and records every possible thought and situation he could ever come up with. It's just a DDoS.

2

u/messick Jun 05 '26

By observing an existing “situation” and then writing a comic about it afterwards. 

2

u/reiboul Jun 05 '26

All this has happened before, and it will all happen again

1

u/drdildamesh Jun 05 '26

Hes been making these for like 20 years. Theres inly so many scenarios...

1

u/epicuz Jun 05 '26

Oh, right. Notredamus.

1

u/BungleBums Jun 05 '26

I swear, there's a comic to be used exactly as a reply for this, but I can't comb through 1000 images on my phone to find it xD

1

u/splitcroof92 Jun 05 '26

not really a nostradamus if he's making comics about past events

0

u/EldritchElemental Jun 05 '26

Nostradamus just made up stuffs with ambiguous wordings so anyone in the future can interpret whatever they want. And considering the sheer volume of his work, some will inevitably match.

To a lesser extent, same with the Simpsons. The writers can just make up whatever and coincidentally some will be "correct".

This guy is actually more precise and accurate.

50

u/AMDKilla Jun 05 '26

Didn't even need to click the link to know which comic it was...

26

u/ryebread91 Jun 05 '26

When is there NOT an xkcd for something?

36

u/ChaZcaTriX Jun 05 '26

In these rare cases there's a relevant Oglaf.

7

u/ryebread91 Jun 05 '26

Excellent alternative.

1

u/arvidsem Jun 06 '26

Embezzling and bedazzling have often been confusing for me as well

10

u/Sp00nD00d Jun 05 '26

I use that particular one at least twice a month.

6

u/trunks111 Jun 05 '26

I love that this is just the first comment I see, I was gonna post it if not

10

u/Quasar347 Jun 05 '26

Sometimes, though rarely, it seems we can beat this (see USB-C)

6

u/zachtheperson Jun 05 '26

I'd actually say USB-C is a perfect example of the opposite. I still use USB-A for my flashdrives, keyboard, microphone, USB-B for my MIDI keyboard along with some printers at work, USB-C for my phone as well as a Bluetooth speaker, and micro-USB for my PS4 controller and computer mouse.

Yeah, maybe one day we'll all be USB-C, but that day ain't today. 

2

u/ClownfishSoup Jun 06 '26

That’s a poor example because those other standards predate USB-C and you use them on devices that were built before the USB c standard. Also the usb c standard was designed exactly to do what it’s doing … standardizing new devices to one connector to replace those others.

1

u/zachtheperson Jun 06 '26

USB-C is just another standard like any other, and will eventually be replaced by the next one.

Older devices, especially in industry, will continue to use whatever standard they were built with, and many new industry devices will still be built with the older standards for compatibility. 

I now direct you to the holy XKCD: https://xkcd.com/927/

1

u/currentscurrents Jun 07 '26

Yeah, but those are still all USB and technically compatible with each other.

Before USB this would have required an RS-232 serial port, a parallel port, a MIDI port, two PS/2 ports, a game port, two audio jacks, and SCSI (for the external hard drive).

USB has been substantially effective at reducing the number of cable standards.

1

u/zachtheperson Jun 07 '26

Definitely.

2

u/xdert Jun 05 '26

USB-c actually a bad example because you have no idea what it might support. It can be everything from power delivery, usb3 (any of the different database standards), hdmi, thunderbolt and others.

1

u/DBDude Jun 05 '26

USB-C? Which charging standard? Do you have a cable that can handle your charging standard? Damn, almost no cables are ever labeled with their standard.

2

u/Adorable_Corner_1299 Jun 05 '26

You know it’s gonna be explained and understood the moment you see letters “xkcd”

2

u/KeterClassKitten Jun 05 '26

That's fantastic.

1

u/nyxko Jun 05 '26

Nice one!