John Backus dies

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Using the beta copy of Fortran at Bell Labs and George Mealy got me  
into computing. A long and interesting story.  djf



Begin forwarded message:

From: George Sadowsky <george.sadowsky () attglobal net>
Date: March 20, 2007 12:42:38 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: John Backus dies

Dave,

For IP if you want ... the death of one of computing's pioneers, as  
reported in the New York Times.  I can remember Dave Wright and I  
programming in Fortran (Fortran 1 at that!)  on an IBM 704 in GE  
Building 59 in Schenectady during the summer of 1957 when Harry  
Cantrell ran the programming group there.  It was my first job, and I  
was hooked.

George

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John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, Dies

By STEVE LOHR
Published: March 20, 2007

John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created  
Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped  
open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in  
Ashland, Ore. He was 82.
His daughter Karen Backus announced the death, saying the family did  
not know the cause, other than age.

Fortran, released in 1957, was "the turning point" in computer  
software, much as the microprocessor was a giant step forward in  
hardware, according to J.A.N. Lee, a leading computer historian.

Fortran changed the terms of communication between humans and  
computers, moving up a level to a language that was more  
comprehensible by humans. So Fortran, in computing vernacular, is  
considered the first successful higher-level language.

Mr. Backus and his youthful team, then all in their 20s and 30s,  
devised a programming language that resembled a combination of  
English shorthand and algebra. Fortran, short for Formula Translator,  
was very similar to the algebraic formulas that scientists and  
engineers used in their daily work. With some training, they were no  
longer dependent on a programming priesthood to translate their  
science and engineering problems into a language a computer would  
understand.

In an interview several years ago, Ken Thompson, who developed the  
Unix operating system at Bell Labs in 1969, observed that "95 percent  
of the people who programmed in the early years would never have done  
it without Fortran."

......................etc............
--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George Sadowsky                          george.sadowsky () attglobal net
64 Sweet Briar Road                          george.sadowsky () gmail com
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