Computer Language Pioneer John Backus Passes
Keith_Indy on Mar 20 2007 at 4:16 pm | Filed under: Education, Keith's Page, Technology
From the New York Times via Pajamas Media, I learned that John Backus died on Saturday. Now, the name probably doesn’t mean anything to most people. In fact, it didn’t mean anything to me, until I saw the computer language the team he led created. FORTRAN
Now, FORTRAN may be considered ancient history by many computer programmers these days, much like paper tape, and punch cards. But, and I hope I’m not dating myself to much, this was the 2nd or 3rd computer language I learned in college.
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.
Funny thing about computer programming, it is as much art as science. Translating what a program should do, to how the computer should do it, isn’t always straightforward. Often based on often vague requirements from users who just want things done faster, and better. Many of the people who I’ve seen throughout my career have only had the foggiest notion of how to do this. To me it seemed as if they knew the syntax of a language, but not the grammar needed to make cogent sentences. I have to wonder what exactly they are being taught in their classes.
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You wrote: “Many of the people who I’ve seen throughout my career have only had the foggiest notion of how to do this. To me it seemed as if they knew the syntax of a language, but not the grammar needed to make cogent sentences.”
Also in my computer career I saw lots of problems translating what the user really needed into a working program or system. I think the problem has less to do with the programmer not knowing how to “make cogent sentences” in FORTRAN or HTML or whatever, and much more to do with not understanding the user’s subject area well enough. (Heck, I think a lot of users really don’t understand their subject area well enough). I think good designers/systems analysts/programmers have to develop expertise not only in computers, but in the subject area the computer is supposed to support.
A similar problem seems to have arisen in the education field — at least some teachers seem to have been trained entirely on education methods, but have little training in the subject area they are to teach, e.g. English, mathematics, etc.
I think computer programmers who are going to support applications (as opposed to studying computer science itself) and teachers both would be better for it if they got their undergraduate degrees in specific subjects, then added programming skills and/or teaching skills later.
elb