Jean sammet, 89, codeveloper, cobol early computer language. Full obituary in the new york times i remember being entranced by programming languages. It was originally seen as a stopgap, but the department of. In 1969, jean sammet was a programming language technology manager for the federal systems division of ibm corporation. Formac was the first general symbolic mathematics language. Exploring datas d3 interactive visualization shows related languages and prints are available for purchase.
Sammet, jean e 1978 sammet, jean e roster of programming languages for 197677 pp5685. Uncol universal computer oriented language was a proposed universal intermediate language for compilers introduced by melvin e. What are the best programming language visualizations. Cobol was designed in 1959 by codasyl and was partly based on previous programming language design work by grace hopper, commonly referred to as the grandmother of cobol. Sammet supervised the first scientific programming. Reasons for the proliferation of languages are given. Sammet programmed before programming was a thing the new stack.
In spite of the fact that programming languagesas a specific topicis. Programming language standardization continues to grow in. Pdf on mar 2, 2012, mouaaz nahas and others published choosing. Sammet new york, 1928ko martxoaren 23a burtonsville, maryland, 2017ko maiatzaren 20a amerikako estatu batuetako matematikaria eta informatikaria izan zen. It was created as part of a us department of defense effort to create a portable programming language for data processing. Jean sammet programming languages pdf april 12, 2020 by admin. In 1978 acm sigplan sponsored a history of programming languages conference hopl with jean e. Sammet ibm corporation this paper discusses both the history and future of programming languages higher level languages.
This view differs from that held by some people who maintain that anything emphasis added. The beginning the prime mover for the inaugural hopl conference was jean e. This paper discusses both the history and future of programming languages higher level. For her contributions to the field of programming languages and its history. Sammet as general chair and program chair, and john a. In 4 the author mentions that developments of programming languages will be guided by the aim. Sammet 19282017 july 2017 communications of the acm. The machine that changed the world 1992 documentary. Contribute to sajithcs papers development by creating an account on github. This merger allowed sammet access to the univac i computer and grace hopper. The object oriented languages simula and smalltalk were just being developed while this paper was written.
Pdf a history of the history of programming languages. We are seeing a new round of appreciations for jean e. Sammet march 23, 1928 may 20, 2017 was an american computer scientist who developed the formac programming language in 1962. Sammet was a graduate student in math when she first. Her parents, harry and ruth sammet, were both lawyers.
A program was specified as a sequence of subroutines and arguments. She was active in helping start the annals of the history of computing in the late 1970s and among the first group of acm fellows elected in 1994. Grant saviers digital equipment corporation edward a. She also wrote the first computer languages history book. The a0 functioned more as a loader or linker than the modern notion of a compiler. Amanda wick details the deed of gift from jean sammet, an important figure in computer programming languages. For someone looking at the history of computer software almost 50 years later. Sammet, the computer programmer who developed the formac programming language and was also a key member of the group that invented cobol. History and fundamentals automatic in, jean sammet was a programming language technology manager for the federal. Programming languages can be used to create computer programs. The a0 system arithmetic language version 0, written by grace murray hopper in 1951 and 1952 for the univac i, was an early compiler related tool developed for electronic computers. Schwartz new england legal foundation naomi seligman the research board paul severino wellfleet communications hal b. Sammet, the computer programmer who developed the formac programming language and was also a key member of the. In 1961, she moved to ibm, where she researched the use of restricted english as a programming language and the use of natural.
The philosophy used in this paper is that it is the appropriate collection of features in a language which generally makes the contribution to the technology, rather than an individual feature. Pdf choosing appropriate programming language to implement. Pdf history of ibms technical contributions to high. A key part of the paper is a tree showing the chronological development of languages and their interrelationships. As i became an adult this characteristic merged with my interest in computing history. She was also one of the developers of the influential cobol programming language she received her b.
Long a student of programming languages, sammet served on the codasyl lan. Uncol was intended to make compilers economically available for each new instruction set architecture and programming language. It turns out that one of her fans is actress gillian jacobs, whom you may have seen on. History of programming languages the early history of cobol. Tobey at ibms boston advanced programming department in july 1962. In 1965 she became programming language technology manager in the ibm systems development division to enable her to write a book on programming languages. Jean sammet was born in new york, new york, in 1928. The first female president of acm developed the programming language formac and was part of the subcommitee that created the programming language cobol. This paper discusses both the history and future of programming languages higher level languages. As i became an adult, this characteristic merged with my interest in computing history.
History and fundamentals and suffering months of painful debugging in cobol, in one of my first real jobs. Sammet march 23, 1928 may 20, 2017 was an american computer scientist who developed the formac programming language in. Programming languages programming language a vocabulary and set of grammatical rules syntax for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks. A ny times obituary reports that early software engineer and codesigner of cobol jean sammet died on may 20 in maryland at age 89. Proceedings of the third acm sigplan conference on history of programming. The film consists of 5 fantastic episodes but unfortunately since its release in 1992 it has become virtually extinct. History of programming languages richard l wexelblat pdf. Sammet, an american computer scientist who served as the first female president. Sammet, a widely popular and influential american computer scientist, is best known for developing the very first extensively used computer language formac programming language for symbolic. Classic references on early languages are jean sammet s programming languages history and fundamentals,2 which discussed approximately 120 important languages as of 1969, and richard wexelblats history of progarmming languages,3 which recorded a conference that chose 10 important languages created before 1967 and still in use in 1977. Inieee awarded her its computer pioneer award for pioneering work and lifetime achievement as one of the first developers and researchers in programing languages.
This paper discusses ibms technical contributions to high level programming languages from the viewpoint of specific languages and their contributions to the technology. Languages, levels, libraries, and longevity acm queue. The machine that changed the world is the longest, most comprehensive documentary about the history of computing ever produced. The basic concepts of formac formula manipulation compiler were first developed by jean e. History of programming languages richard l wexelblat pdf download. History and fundamentals was published by prenticehall and has been described by others as the standard work on. Web of science you must be logged in with an active subscription to view this. There had been other attempts to apply computers to symbol manipulation, but prior to formac all of them were libraries of procedures and functions that had to be assembled in the context of a conventional. In 1983, she returned to the position of programming language technology manager to concentrate on programming languages. Some of the difficulties in writing such a history are indicated. Im saddened to report that jean sammet one of the true pioneers of our industry passed away on may 20, at the age of 89. Sammet 1 was born on 23 march 1928, in new york city. I recognized that what was needed was a formal algebraic capability associated with an already existing numeric mathematical language.