Episode 23 - FORTRAN, Compilers, and Early Programming
Advent of Computing
00:00
The Fortran Compiler
Fortran was a programming language developed for the IBM 704 mainframe. The Fortran compiler would take years to get off the ground, but in that time eight programmers created possibly one of the more complex programs ever written. Each line of Fortran code can only be 80 characters long because punch cards are only 80 columns wide. So the team could afford to be as slow when hulking as they wanted.
Transcript
Play full episode
