What happened was that some programming languages, like PL/I, were available only on very expensive computers, e.g. IBM mainframes.
The languages available on cheap computers, e.g. BASIC, Pascal or C, had less features, especially features for parallel processing, which were not useful on cheap hardware.
In time, the cheap computers became more powerful than the old supercomputers. Then many of the features formerly available only on powerful computers were added to the new popular programming languages, but not all of them.
While what were considered large languages during the sixties, e.g. PL/I and ALGOL 68, had a few serious flaws, they also had many nice features that are still not present in the most popular programming languages of today, mostly as a consequence of the fact that while C has taken most of the features it added over BCPL and B from either PL/I or ALGOL 68, it simplified those features a lot or even crippled them compared to the original, in order to allow implementation on much cheaper computers.
Later languages attempted to be better than Pascal or C, which was a very easy target, but their designers did not study what was available in earlier languages, to be also better than that.
The languages available on cheap computers, e.g. BASIC, Pascal or C, had less features, especially features for parallel processing, which were not useful on cheap hardware.
In time, the cheap computers became more powerful than the old supercomputers. Then many of the features formerly available only on powerful computers were added to the new popular programming languages, but not all of them.
While what were considered large languages during the sixties, e.g. PL/I and ALGOL 68, had a few serious flaws, they also had many nice features that are still not present in the most popular programming languages of today, mostly as a consequence of the fact that while C has taken most of the features it added over BCPL and B from either PL/I or ALGOL 68, it simplified those features a lot or even crippled them compared to the original, in order to allow implementation on much cheaper computers.
Later languages attempted to be better than Pascal or C, which was a very easy target, but their designers did not study what was available in earlier languages, to be also better than that.