Do you believe that clever algorithms and good libraries complete the modern picture of a programming language? 

Alan Edelman, professor of applied mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a principal investigator at the MIT Computer Science and AI Laboratory (CSAIL), would argue otherwise because of Julia.

Edelman is the founder of Julia Computing, Inc. and creator of the Julia programming language. Julia is a high-level, general-purpose dynamic programming language that was originally designed to address the needs of high-performance numerical analysis and computational science. 

According to Edelman, Julia is a fast and dynamic all-star in the computer science and computation spectrum. It is widely acclaimed for solving the two language problem of users having to switch from a high level language to a low level, or parallel, or GPU language in order to gain performance.

What separates Julia from its predecessors is that its programs compile efficient native code for multiple platforms to ensure that it is not only fast, but that it is useable for client and server web use, as well as low-level systems programming. It can even be used as a specification language. 

Edelman presented a distinguished lecture at Georgia Tech, hosted by the School of Computational Science and Engineering on Oct. 19, detailing how Julia’s uses vary from similar languages available. 

A recording of Edelman’s full lecture, What Makes the Programming Language Julia Special?, and a short Q&A are available online.