I speculate

[serenissima]

The archetypal first program to write when learning a new programming language is one that makes the computer display the words "Hello world." Could this message have something to do with our universal desire to communicate and have our existence acknowledged? Or am I reading too much into things?

Also: here's a series of "Hello world" programs arranged according to the supposed job title of the writer. I enjoyed trying to guess which language each one is written in. I think I'll put my guesses in a comment....

Comments

[zeeth_kyrah]

New professional: C
Seasoned professional: C++
SysAdmin: more compact but less efficient C (with a misspelling)

Seasoned hacker: clever use of C compiler to produce Hello World from C program file

Research scientist: see First year in college (probably COBOL)

Older research scientist: FORTRAN

[zeeth_kyrah]

Oh yes, and Experienced hacker: Elegant, efficient C using prebuilt libraries which most likely include necessary error checking (and have probably overloaded the printf statement to provide it).