Inventor of Fortran, John W. Backus, Dies

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	Inventor of Fortran, John W. Backus, Dies

Kore7

3-20-2007 9:06 AM

1067 views

tags:

backus, john backus, backus–naur form, fortran, programming, language, grammar, cfg, computer science, math, mathematics, computers, history

Kore7 says:

Not only did Backus give the world the first high-level (and highly-successful) programming language, but he had the genius in 1959 to develop Backus–Naur form, the meta-language used to define all possible programming languages, past, present and future. Our digital world wouldn't be the same without him.

Shortly before he graduated, Mr. Backus wandered by the I.B.M. headquarters on Madison Avenue in New York, where one of its room-size electronic calculators was on display.

When a tour guide inquired, Mr. Backus mentioned that he was a graduate student in math; he was whisked upstairs and asked a series of questions Mr. Backus described as math “brain teasers.” It was an informal oral exam, with no recorded score.

He was hired on the spot. As what? “As a programmer,” Mr. Backus replied, shrugging. “That was the way it was done in those days.”

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