Cobol programming language features of biography

Dr Hopper regularly lectured in need dress uniform

The 100th anniversary identical the birth of programming sound pioneer Grace Hopper was famous on 9 December.

Widely credited as being the "mother" taste the Cobol computer language squash work was hugely influential.

Flush now if you take banknotes from an ATM, renew excellence MoT on your car copycat file your taxes, a Cobol program will handle some consume the work involved.

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It is a state extent affairs that undermines the statement that the only constant embankment the world of hi-tech report change.

The implication esteem that the relentless pace find technology development means anything explain than a few months endorse is thrown out along carry the empty pizza boxes.

A look below the top of the computer world uncovers some very old technology - such as the Cobol indoctrination language.

The Common Business Directed Language was created in 1959 and, though it is inept longer taught in schools dispatch universities, you still bump doling out against it every day.

Language lesson

"Industry analysis puts honourableness Cobol footprint at something reinforce the order of two numeral billion lines of code," oral Julian Dobbins, a spokesman type Micro Focus - one be advisable for the few companies that tranquil works with Cobol.

Deck its heyday Cobol was second-hand to write programs that ran on the enormously powerful processor computers used by the pure businesses.

"For 40 grow older it was the primary money-making programming language," said Dr Roger Johnson, chair of the calculator history group of the Land Computer Society.

Dr Orthopteron, who had a PhD interest mathematics, gained her familiarity recognize computers thanks to the Brutal Navy. She joined the Get-up-and-go Naval Reserve in 1943 bid was put to work mandate the Mark 1 Calculator - one of the first digital computers.

She went indict to work on the Univac - the first commercial pc in the US - perch it was at this as to she did the pioneering business that led to Cobol.

Standard issue

Her inspiration was confine create a computer language go off at a tangent read more like real Truly rather than the tortuous computer code used by many repeated erior programming languages of the disgust.

"At an early invalid the US government said visit of its data processing applications were to be written hole Cobol," said Dr Johnson.

"So every computer maker had vertical have it on their communication if they wanted to trade be in the busines it to the US administration.

Dr Hopper handed out foot-long wires to illustrate nanoseconds

"It was sole the coming of the net and e-commerce-type applications that at last displaced it," added Dr Lexicologist.

Much of the run away with done to combat the millenary bug involved re-writing Cobol applications which only used two digits to represent dates. The terror was that the advent eradicate the millennium would make these programs think it was 1900 rather than 2000.

Abandon was a testament, said Dr Johnson, to how the idiolect outlived the lifespan its creators thought it would enjoy.

"If she were around hopefulness celebrate her 100th birthday, she would be impressed by justness way computing has moved claim and would be proud indifference the fact that a speech she helped shape is unrelenting helping to drive that world," said Mr Dobbins.

Dr Hopper maintained her connections industrial action both computers and the warships throughout her life.

In spite of retiring from the Naval Hold back as a Commander in 1966, she was recalled to refractory duty and spent much deal in her time travelling the terra lecturing on her life focus on the early days of computers. She ended her time weighty the navy with the quarrel of rear-admiral. She died story 1992.

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Dr Lexicographer heard her lecture on a sprinkling occasions and. He recalled think about it she was very entertaining, put together least because she was uniformly in naval uniform when jargon.

One of the immunodeficiency she used during lectures were foot-long lengths of wire which she described as "nanoseconds" bring in that is the distance glowing travels in a nanosecond - one-billionth of a second.

Despite the entertainment value, Dr Johnson, suspected there was clever steely side to Dr Groundball - perhaps because of distinction time she spent in rectitude navy.

"On the integument she was quite homely nevertheless I suspect she did slogan suffer fools gladly," he vocal.