Father of Fortran John Backus dies aged 82
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.
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.
“His contribution was immense, and it influenced the work of many, including me,” Frances Allen, a retired research fellow at I.B.M., said yesterday.
Innovation, Mr. Backus said, was a constant process of trial and error.
“You need the willingness to fail all the time,” he said. “You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don’t work. And you keep doing that over and over until you find one that does work.”
via [ nytimes ]