Tag: 1950s

Seven people across semiconductor physics, machine design, and planar manufacturing helped move computing from vacuum tubes to solid-state systems.

FORTRAN became the breakthrough proof that scientists and engineers could describe calculations in a high-level language without surrendering the performance of hand-coded machine instructions. Its success came from a team whose members attacked language design, optimization, arithmetic translation, input/output, documentation, and compiler implementation from different angles.

COBOL emerged from an unusually collaborative effort to make business programs readable, portable, and less dependent on one manufacturer's machine. Its history spans Grace Hopper's FLOW-MATIC influence, Mary Hawes's call for a common language, Jean Sammet's committee work, and the designers, implementers, and standards advocates who turned that idea into a durable business-computing platform.