The ones which came to me quickest upon seeing the name(s) were Python, Lisp, C, Java, C++ and Go (because of the year). The one which was the hardest to recall was Scala.
Scala was easy for people like me who took a compiler design class given by Odersky at EPFL. We actually wrote a compiler for a simplified version of Scala. I would have never thought to see that language again after university. (That was about 6 or 7 years ago.)
Hmmm... I don't know much about COBOL, but Wikipedia tells me that she wrote the initial specification of the language, and given that it doesn't look to me as such a big stretch to name her at least as one of the main inventors of the language. Although it might be the case that after the committee there wasn't much left of the initial spec. But as I sayd, I hardly know anything about COBOL.
Wikipedia's attribution of the work that took place in late 1959 on COBOL to Grace Hopper is incorrect. Note that it was made anonymously by someone who was fixing obvious vandalism. See
I will summarize what I think is the correct story. I have "The Early History of COBOL" by Jean Sammet, 1978, which can be downloaded from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=808378 for $15. Sammet was on the short-range design committee which did the work that Wikipedia mentions occurring in late 1959. I also have a photocopy of the April 1960 CODASYL report on COBOL which I acquired from the Charles Babbage Institute.
There was a meeting of various people at the University of Pennsylvania in April 1959. They thought a "machine independent" language for data processing could and should be developed and they suggested that the Department of Defense lead the effort. In May 1959 there was a meeting at the Pentagon which outlined high level goals for the language. It also said that the existing languages FLOW-MATIC and AIMACO as well as the specified but unimplemented language COMTRAN should be studied to determine what is wrong and right with them. The May 1959 meeting also established a short-range committee, an intermediate-range committee, and a long-range committee to develop the language. The long-range committee would never actually meet. There was also an executive committee for coordinating the other committees. Grace Hopper was appointed as an advisor to the executive committee, but the executive committee was political in nature and wasn't involved in design.
Most of the design work for COBOL was done by the short-range committee, which met from June through December 1959. These people served on the short-range committee:
Col. Alfred Asch, Robert Barton, Howard Bromberg, William Carter, Ben Cheydleur, Miss Deborah Davidson, Norman Discount, William Finley, Charles Gaudette, Roy Goldfinger, Dan Goldstein, Mrs. Mary K. Hawes, Duane Hedges, Mrs. Frances E. Holberton, Miss Sue Knapp, Karl Kozarsky, Roy Nutt, William Logan, Rex McWilliams, Vernon Reeves, Gerald Rosenkrantz, Miss Jean E. Sammet, William Seldon, Edward Somers, Mrs. Nora Taylor, Miss Gertrude Tierney, Capt. Erwin Vernon, J..H. Wegstein (Chairman)
After the short-range committee dissolved, work was carried on by the intermediate-range committee at a slower pace. The following individuals are mentioned as participating in the intermediate-range committee (though Sammet thinks this list may be incomplete):
A. Eugene Smith (Chairman), Lester Calkins, Gregory Dillon, Roy Goldfinger, Jack Jones, William Keating, Colonel Gerald Lerner, Robert Rossheim
As for the influence of FLOW-MATIC on COBOL, I am not aware of any FLOW-MATIC manuals that are available online, unfortunately. Sammet's article lists 5 influences of FLOW-MATIC on COBOL, however. It also lists 6 influences of COMTRAN on COBOL. Sammet says the FLOW-MATIC influences are
1) It worked!
2) Full data-names unlike FORTRAN (though limited to 12 characters in length)
3) It used full English words for commands
4) It used less than a full machine world for each data item.
5) It separated data description and commands.
60 comments
[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 110 ms ] threadI haven't missed Basic just because of the year (1964).
Most I got from the creators, managed to narrow down the others based on the year.
I was thinking that it was Algol or Simula or one of the other ones that is super important in terms of influence but isn't used at all any longer.
The ones which came to me quickest upon seeing the name(s) were Python, Lisp, C, Java, C++ and Go (because of the year). The one which was the hardest to recall was Scala.
And the bonus was quick to memory, too.
If I were to choose a single inventor for Scheme, I would have chosen Sussman, not Steele.
There was a meeting of various people at the University of Pennsylvania in April 1959. They thought a "machine independent" language for data processing could and should be developed and they suggested that the Department of Defense lead the effort. In May 1959 there was a meeting at the Pentagon which outlined high level goals for the language. It also said that the existing languages FLOW-MATIC and AIMACO as well as the specified but unimplemented language COMTRAN should be studied to determine what is wrong and right with them. The May 1959 meeting also established a short-range committee, an intermediate-range committee, and a long-range committee to develop the language. The long-range committee would never actually meet. There was also an executive committee for coordinating the other committees. Grace Hopper was appointed as an advisor to the executive committee, but the executive committee was political in nature and wasn't involved in design.
Most of the design work for COBOL was done by the short-range committee, which met from June through December 1959. These people served on the short-range committee:
Col. Alfred Asch, Robert Barton, Howard Bromberg, William Carter, Ben Cheydleur, Miss Deborah Davidson, Norman Discount, William Finley, Charles Gaudette, Roy Goldfinger, Dan Goldstein, Mrs. Mary K. Hawes, Duane Hedges, Mrs. Frances E. Holberton, Miss Sue Knapp, Karl Kozarsky, Roy Nutt, William Logan, Rex McWilliams, Vernon Reeves, Gerald Rosenkrantz, Miss Jean E. Sammet, William Seldon, Edward Somers, Mrs. Nora Taylor, Miss Gertrude Tierney, Capt. Erwin Vernon, J..H. Wegstein (Chairman)
After the short-range committee dissolved, work was carried on by the intermediate-range committee at a slower pace. The following individuals are mentioned as participating in the intermediate-range committee (though Sammet thinks this list may be incomplete):
A. Eugene Smith (Chairman), Lester Calkins, Gregory Dillon, Roy Goldfinger, Jack Jones, William Keating, Colonel Gerald Lerner, Robert Rossheim
As for the influence of FLOW-MATIC on COBOL, I am not aware of any FLOW-MATIC manuals that are available online, unfortunately. Sammet's article lists 5 influences of FLOW-MATIC on COBOL, however. It also lists 6 influences of COMTRAN on COBOL. Sammet says the FLOW-MATIC influences are
1) It worked! 2) Full data-names unlike FORTRAN (though limited to 12 characters in length) 3) It used full English words for commands 4) It used less than a full machine world for each data item. 5) It separated data description and commands.
Yes, I was disappointed too. Sussman should be there. He is one my personal favorites.
Anything Lisp related just immediately makes me think of McCarthy.
I would like to see other very important people on this list, e.g., where is Niklaus Wirth? or Alain Colmeraurer? or Chuck Moore?