FORTRAN

FORTRAN is an acronym for FORmula TRANslation, it is one of the earliest high level programming languages developed for the purpose of scientific and numerical applications. It was the first of the high-level programming languages and it enabled programmers to write mathematical equations into the programs. The FORTRN was developed by John Backus in 1954 and this language was one of the best of the kind because most of mathematical formulas can easily be converted to machine codes.

New languages have come up in the market, still FORTRAN is used in scientific computing, engineering simulations and even in financial trading. This is why it is still used today, as well as for the capability to potentially run ‘better’ code for high-performance computing.

Impact of FORTRAN on Software Development:

Numerical Methods and Scientific Research: FORTRAN hence rapidly advanced the use of numerical methods and scientific investigations through the means of translation of mathematical expressions into computer executable code.

Standardization: FORTRAN set up the general format of the code sharing and distribution practices amongst other programmers but it also ensured that for the various systems to work together there were basic provisions that had to be met.

Influence on Other Languages: Many programming languages resulted from it such as the C system which was designed and developed with a view of eliminating the weaknesses of FORTRAN that was originally an automatic programming language.