Konrad zuse began work on plankalkul plan calculus, the first algorithmic programming language, with an aim of creating the theoretical preconditions for the formulation of problems of a general nature. The following brief history of computing is a timeline of how computers evolved from their humble beginnings to the machines of today that surf. Clu was used in the software engineering course she taught where i learned about data abstraction. Unlocking difficulties compiler computer software that translates compiles source code written in a highlevel language e. Most popular programming languages 1965 2019 youtube. A brief timeline of computer programming and its possible future. Welcome timeline of computer history computer history.
History and evolution of programming languages youtube. But the introduction of visual basic, written by microsoft, in 1991, changed that. For a detailed timeline of events, see the computing timeline article. Games are included because often the major advances in computer hardware and software technologies first appeared in games. Early days of computer software 19481979 in his manuscript a mathematical theory of communication, claude shannon 19162001 provided an outline for how binary logic could be implemented to program a computer. Beginning more than 150 years ago with ada lovelaces translation algorithm, one thing is constant about these languages. It almost seems as if the hype surrounding programming was an overnight kind of thing, but thats not the case at all. Software is a recent development in human history, and it is fundamental to the information age. Since the invention of charles babbages analytical engine in 1837, computers have always needed instructions to perform tasks instructions that come in the form of coding languages.
The history of programming languages is fascinating but it can be difficult to put it into any sort of order that makes sense easily. Developed in 1937 and tested in 1942, the first electronic computer, the atanasoffberry computer abc was designed to solve linear equations. Computer languages were first composed of a series of steps to wire a particular program. Denise ritchie used the concepts of bcpl and b to develop c and added data.
The first programming languages predate the modern computer. Herman hollerith realized that he could encode information on punch cards when he observed that railroad train conductors would encode the appearance of the ticket holders on the train tickets using the position of punched holes on the tickets. It has to be pointed out that there are some oddities and the selection of languages is fairly personal. The idea behind programming is so that the computer has a set of instructions to follow in order to. A computer programming language created by john backus for complicated scientific, mathematical, and statistical work, fortran stands for formula translation. This was developed by robin milner and has the primary purpose of being a functional programming language and an automatic memory management. Java is a generalpurpose computer programming language that is concurrent, classbased, objectoriented, and specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. Users reference to b the name b may be a contraction of basic computer programming language though it is not confirmed. Did you know that the first programming language is over 100 years old and was written by a woman, ada lovelace. The history of programming languages makes for a highly complex family tree.
The first programmers of eniac were kay mcnulty, betty jennings, betty snyder, marlyn meltzer, fran bilas, and ruth lichterman. Contracted by the us department of defense in 1977 for developing large software systems. Starting with ava lovelace in the 1840s, programming now uses specialized languages that, when used together, can create new products and push innovation further. It is the one of the oldest computer programming languages still used today. Timeline of generalpurpose programming languages by denis sureau. Computers are only as good as the programs they run. If you want to print this timeline, you can freely download one of the following pdf files. As such, unix was easily ported to other computers and spread swiftly. Click here to learn where coding is now, as well as how far it has come. Originally specified in 1958 by steve russell, lisp is the secondoldest highlevel programming language in widespread use today. The history of programming technicat on software medium.
Linkedin principal author doug winnie explains the basic history of programming and how programming languages have evolved over time to support evolutions in hardware and computer technology. The secondoldest programming language, lisp was developed by john mccarthy and was first used in 1958. Programming languages are used by computer programmers to write specific sets of instructions for the computers microprocessor to read in order to complete a specific task. Programming languages through the years infographic. History of computing hardware mcgill school of computer. The history of programming languages infographic veracode. Dennis ritchie and his team created c based on the earlier language bcpl basic combined programming language and soon after rewrote the source code for unix in c. Many of its specifications borrow heavily from the earlier flowmatic language. Lovelaces contributions to computing marked the beginning of a rich history in programming. This article covers major developments in the history of computing hardware, and attempts to put them in context. There is only 50 languages listed in my chart, if you dont find your language, see the language list of bill kinnersley he has listed. History of programming languages, computer languages.
This language was developed by a software company called borland. The history of computing article is a related overview and treats methods intended for pen and paper, with or without the aid of tables. What you may not know about computer programming is that most historians recognize ada lovelace as the worlds first programmer. The aim of this list of programming languages is to include all notable programming languages in existence, both those in current use and historical ones, in alphabetical order. The history of computer science, software engineering, and the world wide web is rich, fascinating, and quite surprising if you havent gotten into it before. History of computers a brief timeline of their evolution. It is intended to let application developers write once, run anywhere wora, meaning that compiled java code can run on all platforms that support java. The history of programming languages spans from documentation of early mechanical computers to modern tools for software development. It begins in a time when computer programs were essentially just instructions to manipulate a physical device and carries through several key turning points that led to first the. Some consider autocode to be the first compiled computer programming language, meaning that it can be translated directly into machine code using a program called a compiler. A brief timeline of computer programming and its possible. One of the first programming languages, fortran, was introduced to the public on october 15, 1956. Lisp is actually a family of computer programming languages, but its original version is the secondoldest highlevel programming language that is still used today.
Dialects of basic, esoteric programming languages, and markup languages are not included. A timeline of programming languages an infographic. There are many kinds of computer programming languages. This history of programming languages also discusses the developments of computer hardware, computer operating systems, games, and technology. Subsequently, the first computer programmers used binary code to instruct computers to perform various tasks. In 1940s, jean jennings bartik, betty holberton, marlyn wescoff, kathleen mcnulty, ruth teitelbaum, and frances spence developed subroutines, nesting, and other fundamental programming techniques, and invented the discipline of programming digital co. Presper eckert, herman goldstine after alan turing. We have a long history of computers and computer programming languages since 18th century since first computer was invented in this video i have covered most of the languages that used alot in. Created by a committee for scientific use, algol stands for algorithmic language. History of computer languages timeline timeline created by lindsey.
Whether you are using a social media app on your smartphone or working with a cloud servers api, the task relies heavily on a programming language. Now rackspace has been kind enough to put together a graphic showing the languages along with some context. Early programming languages were highly specialized, relying on mathematical notation and similarly obscure syntax. Computer programming is the process of designing and building an executable computer program to accomplish a specific computing result. A brief history of software engineering viking code school. A history of computer programming languages ever since the invention of charles babbages difference engine in 1822, computers have required a means of instructing them to perform a specific task. Charles babbages programs for his analytical engine in the 19th century is often considered the founder of the discipline, though both mathematicians.
Although it was not programmable, it did use binary arithmetic, regenerative memory, parallel processing, and separate memory. Fortran is still used today for programming scientific and mathematical applications. Timeline of the most popular programming languages since 1965 to 2019. Software is programmed instructions stored in the memory of storedprogram digital computers for execution by the processor. The history of computer programming languages timeline.
Computer programming history computer software training. In 1970, niklaus wirth created the language known as pascal, which is still used to make skype desktop applications. A programming language enters the history if it has a compiler or an interpreter or if it has inspired other programming languages. Join as us we delve into the history, evolution, and prevalence of programming languages over the years. A team drawn from several computer manufacturers and the pentagon develop cobolan acronym for common businessoriented language. Fortran or formula translation was the first highlevel programming language software invented by john backus for ibm in 1954, released commercially in 1957. By the mid1980s, the mania for programming personal computers had subsided in the wake of running professional software created by others.