I'm having a little debate with a friend about Objective-C being a 3GL but he believes it is a 4GL because descriptors make the language english like.
I disagree with this and I know it is sometimes a fine line. Is Objective-C a third generation language or a fourth generation language?
References to support your answer will be appreciated.
According to the wikipedia definition of a 4gl language:
"A fourth-generation programming language (1970s-1990) (abbreviated 4GL) is a programming language or programming environment designed with a specific purpose in mind, such as the development of commercial business software[1]. In the evolution of computing, the 4GL followed the 3GL in an upward trend toward higher abstraction and statement power. The 4GL was followed by efforts to define and use a 5GL."
Objective-C is definitely not 4gl. It is a superset of C with full object oriented support and dynamic binding. Although mainly used to develop on OS X systems it can be used on *nix as an alternative to c++.