From machine code
The first programmers wrote the instruction numbers directly. Assembly language made this easier, but it was still tied to a specific processor. FORTRAN made it possible to write formulas almost as in mathematics, and a compiler translated them into machine code.
Important languages
- 1957FORTRAN for scientific computing
- 1959COBOL for banks and government offices, still running today
- 1964BASIC for beginners
- 1972C, the language in which Unix and Linux are written
- 1991Python
- 1995Java and JavaScript (the latter was created in ten days)
- 2015Rust with memory-safe programming
Grace Hopper
US Navy admiral Grace Hopper created the first compiler and pushed for programs to be written in words rather than symbols. She is also linked to the term “bug”: in 1947 her team found a real insect (a moth) inside a computer, causing a fault.
Programming and AI
Today programmers are helped by AI assistants that suggest code. You still need to understand how a program works, though.