1. COBOL: The Original Workhorse
Before the flashy apps and sleek websites, there was COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language). Born in 1959, COBOL was built for one thing: business. It runs the unglamorous but essential machinery of the global economy, from banking transactions to
government administrative systems. Perot, who launched his career at IBM and built his fortune with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) by servicing huge corporate and government clients, would have deeply respected COBOL’s mission. It’s not trendy, but it’s reliable, stable, and focused on processing massive amounts of data—the digital equivalent of the charts and binders Perot famously loved. It’s a language built for getting the job done, not for winning style points.
2. SQL: Just the Facts, Ma'am
Perot’s public persona was defined by his demand for raw data. He wanted to 'lift the hood' and see the numbers for himself. SQL (Structured Query Language) is the embodiment of that mindset. It’s a declarative language, meaning you don't tell it how to do something; you tell it what you want. You ask a direct question of a database—'Show me all sales in Q3' or 'Find all customers in Texas'—and it gives you a straight answer. There's no fluff. SQL is the universal tool for data wrangling, used to query, manage, and retrieve the hard facts locked inside relational databases. For a leader who valued deeds over words and results over process, SQL’s direct line to the truth would be indispensable.
3. Python: Pragmatism Beats Purity
One of the guiding principles of Python, found in its 'Zen of Python,' is 'practicality beats purity'. This could have been Perot’s personal motto. Python is celebrated for its clean, readable syntax and its swiss-army-knife versatility, used in everything from data science to web development. But its core philosophy is about choosing the simplest, most obvious path to a solution. It avoids unnecessary complexity and favors straightforward, maintainable code. This aligns perfectly with Perot’s leadership style, which emphasized common sense and cutting through bureaucracy. His famous quip, 'If you see a snake, just kill it—don't appoint a committee on snakes,' is the spiritual twin of Python’s pragmatic ethos.
4. Go (Golang): Engineered for Efficiency
Developed at Google, Go was created to solve problems of scale and complexity with brutal efficiency. Its designers wanted a language that compiled fast, ran fast, and made it easy to build reliable, high-performance systems. Go has a minimalist syntax and a strong emphasis on concurrency, allowing modern computers to handle many tasks at once without getting bogged down. This is the language a logistics-obsessed industrialist would design. Perot built his businesses on streamlining processes and making organizations run like well-oiled machines. Go’s focus on performance, lean resource usage, and getting the job done with as little overhead as possible makes it the modern software equivalent of Perot’s mission to 'clean out the barn'.
5. C: The No-Frills Power Tool
If you want to get close to the machine and have maximum control, you use a language like C. Developed in the early 1970s, C is a foundational language known for its power, performance, and lack of guardrails. It gives the programmer immense responsibility and expects them to know what they're doing. It’s fast and efficient because it operates at a lower level than many modern languages, giving direct memory access. Perot was a leader who believed in empowering his people but also holding them accountable. He famously said, 'Inventories can be managed, but people must be led'. C is a language that needs to be led. It doesn't hold your hand, but in the right hands, it can build anything, from operating systems to the high-performance engines that power other, simpler languages. It’s a tool for builders who take full responsibility for their work.
