In 1980, Carlo Ghezzi and I started to write a textbook on programming languages. It seemed to us at that time that the field was stabilizing after a very active period of innovation, experimentation and consolidation. The fierst edition of the book was published in 1982. Contrary to our thoughts then, the field of programming languages has stayed active and constantly changing. The second edition of the book was published in 1987 and the third in 1997. Over these years, the field has been so active that each edition reqired basically a rewrite. As each edition was going to press, a new language was in vogue. By looking back over the time periods of the three editions, I will present the developments that we anticipated and those that surprised us. I will also look at the issues that both necessitate the constant changes in the programming language field and promise and exciting future.