The Early Development of Programming Languages.

This paper surveys the evolution of high level programming languages during the first decade of computer programming activity. We discuss the contributions of Zuse Plankalkul, 1945, Goldstinevon Neumann Flow Diagrams, 1946, Curry Composition, 1948, Mauchly et al. Short Code, 1950, Burks Intermediate PL, 1950, Rutishauser 1951, Bohm 1951, Glennie AUTOCODE, 1952, Hopper et al. A-2, 1953, LaningZierler 1953, Backus et al. FORTRAN, 1954-1957, Brooker Mark I Autocode, 1954, KamyninLiubimskii P.P., 19654, Ershov P.P., 1955, GremsPorter Bacaic, 1955, Elsworth et al. Kompiler 2, 1955, Blum ADES, 1956, Perlis et al. IT, 1956, Katz et al. MATH-MATIC, 1956-1958, Hopper et al. FLOW-MATIC, 1956-1958, BauerSamelson 1956-1958. The principal features of each contribution are illustrated and for purposes of comparison, a particular fixed algorithm has been encoded as far as possible in each of the languages. This research is based primarily on unpublished source materials, and the authors hope that they have been able to compile a fairly complete picture of the early developments in this area. This article was commissioned by the Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology, ed. by Jack Belzer, Albert G. Holzman, and Allen Kent, and it is scheduled to appear in vol. 6 or vol. 7 of that encyclopedia during 1977. Author