When was the first programming language created?
The first programming language was created in 1843 before computers even existed, when a woman named Ada Lovelace worked with Charles Babbage on his very early mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine.
While Babbage was concerned with simply computing numbers, Lovelace saw that the numbers the computer worked with could represent something other than just amounts of things. She wrote an algorithm for the Analytical Engine that was the first of its kind. Because of her contribution, Lovelace is credited with creating the first computer programming language. As different needs have arisen and new devices have been created, many more languages have followed.
What was the first widely used programming language?
Assembly Language appeared in 1949 and soon saw wide use in Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculators. The Assembly was a low-level computer language that simplified the language of machine code which is the specific instructions necessary to operate a computer.
Important Historical Events in the Development of Programming Languages
There are many important events that led up to the creation of human-readable codes that we use today to perform everyday technological duties. Below are the list several of the important events that we should know about when it comes to the history of programming languages.
- Ada Lovelace machine algorithm development in 1843 : Ada Lovelace created the very first machine algorithm in 1843, which was the beginning of the invention of programming languages. She created this algorithm for the Difference Machine, which was a calculating machine that was constructed in the 1820s by the mathematician Charles Babbage.
- Konrad Zuse created Plankalkul in early 1940s : In the early 1940s, Konrad Zuse created the programming language that was called Plankalkul. This was the very first high-level programming language developed for computers. It stored several codes that could be used repeatedly by engineers to perform certain operations routinely.
- Assembly language and shortcode were first put into effect in 1949 : In 1949, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was the first to use assembly language, which was considered to be a low-level computer programming language that broke down the complex language of machine codes. This means that the instructions to work a computer were put into more simplified terms Shortcode was first mentioned by John McCauley in early 1949, but it was not used until late 1949 and early 1950 by William Schmitt to benefit the procedures of the BINAC computer as well as the UNIVAC.
- Autocode was the first compiled programming language to be used in 1952 : In 1952, Alick Glennie created the term Autocode which means “a family of programming languages.” He was a computer scientist who initially used autocode for the Mark 1 computer. It was the very first compiled programming language to be used to translate machine code through a special program called the compiler.
- John Backus developed FORmula TRANslation (FORTRAN) in 1957 : In 1957, John Backus implemented the FORmula TRANslation (FORTRAN), which is the oldest computer programming language that is still being used today around the nation. The FORTRAN was developed to solve mathematical, statistical, and scientific problems.
- Algorithmic language (ALGOL) and List Processor (LISP) both created in 1958 : Algorithmic language (ALGOL) and List Processor (LISP) were both created in 1958. ALGOL was developed by several European and American computer scientists and was considered to be the very beginning of many popular programming languages including C, Java, C++, and Pascal. John McCarthy created LISP for artificial intelligence (AI) purposes. It is currently one of the oldest computer programming languages still being used. Many individuals and businesses are continuing to use LISP instead of other programs such as Python or Ruby.
- Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL) was invented by Dr. Grace Murray Hopper in 1959 : The Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL) was first invented in 1959 by Dr. Grace Murray Hopper. This was a huge milestone for the history of programming languages as it is the computer programming language behind ATMs, cellular device and landline telephones, traffic signals, credit card processors, and so much more. COBOL was put into place to run on all computer types and is still regularly used by bank systems today.
- Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) was created in 1964 : Students attending Dartmouth College created the Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC) in 1964. Its purpose was to help students who did not have much comprehension of computers or math. Later on, Paul Allen and Bill Gates worked further on this programming language, and it became Microsoft’s first sold product.
A Brief History of Programming Languages: Part I. Retrieved from https://www.learnacademy.org/blog/first-programming-language-use-microsoft-apple/
A History of Computer Programming Languages. Retrieved from https://www.onlinecollegeplan.com/computer-programming-languages/
Brief History of Programming Languages. Retrieved from https://www.computersciencedegreehub.com/brief-history-of-programming-languages/
