What is a Hello World program? Why it Used in Programming?

Hello world: One of the first skills programmers learn is how to make a program say “Hello World.” The purpose of a simple Hello World program is to illustrate the syntax and functionality of a programming language in the simplest possible way, using Hello World code.

What is a Hello World program?

One of the first codes written by programmers was the text “Hello world!” Since the American TV series “Mr. Robot,” this simple yet enigmatic phrase has achieved ritual status. In the programming community, it has long been a strong cultural asset. But what lies behind these two words, and why are they a classic must-know for anyone who wants to learn to program?

Simply put, a Hello World program is a simple piece of code whose task is to output the text “Hello World .” There’s nothing easier than creating a Hello World program and seeing the result yourself instantly. This way, even novice users can see at a glance how logical or complex the syntax of web programming languages is . Those who want to learn Python , for example, can immediately see how simple the Hello World code is:

print ("¡Hello World!")

In Java , this simple text looks more complex:

class Hola {
    public static void main( String[] args ) {
        System.out.println("¡Hello World!");
    }
}

JavaScript

Thus, at first glance, beginners can see the syntactic differences between programming languages and how demanding programming paradigms are when it comes to complex programming.

What is the function of a Hello World program?

A Hello World program doesn’t offer in-depth insight into a programming language. Nor does it show you features beyond the famous “Hello to the world!” However, the brief “Hello world!” is one of the unspoken rituals that even experienced programmers follow when learning a new language. However, when it comes to programming for children , a Hello World program offers the advantage of allowing young children to learn how to use code editors and the wide variety of interesting coding languages in a recreational way.

Whether it’s a ritual, a tradition, or a simple teaching tool, one thing is clear: it’s fun to create a small program in a short amount of time that does exactly what you ask it to. Programmer Erin Spiceland described the fascination of the programming process as “telling rocks what to think.” Nothing better illustrates the magic of creating a readable, functional program with just a few lines of code than a simple “Hello world!”

Where does the name come from?

Many people who code a “Hello World!” for the first time wonder the following: Who came up with the idea in the first place? It turns out that the origin of the tradition dates back to 1972 and 1974, when Brian Kernighan , a Canadian computer scientist and co-developer of the B and C programming languages, was writing internal manuals for B and C. In his own words, he wanted to show how individual words could be ordered coherently using the B and C coding languages. The inspiration for the famous greeting is said to have come from a cartoon that Kernighan had previously seen on television.

The famous term’s “debut” came with the well-known Bell Labs textbook ” The C Programming Language ,” which Kernighan co-authored with American computer scientist Dennis Ritchie. As the first book published on the C programming language, it quickly gained popularity and is now considered a reference work. In Kernighan’s internal instructions, as well as in “The C Programming Language,” the term was written as “hello, world,” but in the programming community it became known as “Hello, World!” and “Hello World.”

Hello World examples in different programming languages

It’s difficult to know how many programming languages there are currently in the world. It’s estimated that there are between 700 and over 1,000 markup languages . We can use the simple “Hello World!” program to quickly and clearly understand the syntax of each programming language.

The following Hello World program examples show the complexity, or even the simplicity and effectiveness of different programming languages:

main() {
    printf("¡Hello World!");
}

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
    puts("¡Hello World!");
    return 0;
}

C++:

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
    std::cout << "¡Hello World!" << std::endl;
}

import std.stdio;
void main() {
    writeln("¡Hello World!");
}

JavaScript (in Browser):

document.write("¡Hello World!");

JavaScript

PEARL:

MODULE (HOLAMUNDO);
     SYSTEM;
          TERMINAL:DIS<->SDVLS(2);
     PROBLEM;
          SPC TERMINAL DATION OUT ALPHIC DIM(,) TFU MAX FORWARD CONTROL (ALL);
     MAIN:TASK;
         OPEN TERMINAL;
         PUT '¡Hello World!' TO TERMINAL;
         CLOSE TERMINAL;
    END;
MODEND;

PHP:

<!--?php
    print "¡Hello World!";
?>

php

QBasic:

<!--?php
    print "¡Hello World!";
?>

SQL:

SELECT '¡Hello World!' AS message;

Unix-Shell:

echo '¡Hello World!'

Hello world!