Why are many languages case sensitive?

Question

Why are many languages case sensitive?

Is it simply a matter of inheritance? C++ is case-sensitive because C is, Java is case-sensitive because C++ is, etc.? Or is t

Answer 1

Every example I've seen supporting case sensitivity is based on a desire to write bad, undescriptive code. e.g. the "date" vs. "myDate" argument - these are both equally undescriptive and bad practice. Good practice is to name it what it actually is: birthDate, hireDate, invoiceDate, whatever. And who in their right mind would want to write code like:

Public Class Person
    Public Shared ReadOnly PERSON As Person
End Class
Public Class Employee
    Public person As Person = person.PERSON
End Class

Amazingly this is perfectly valid case insensitive VB.Net code. The thought that case sensitivity allows you to even more flagrantly disobey good programming practice is an argument against it, not for it.