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From: alan@ipse4.uucp (Alan Wills)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: First language?
Message-ID: <1106@m1.cs.man.ac.uk>
Date: 20 Mar 90 21:36:14 GMT
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Reply-To: alan@cs.man.ac.uk (Alan Wills)
Organization: University of Manchester, UK
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>From: paranoid@nstar.UUCP (Damian Gick)
>Does anyone know what the name of the first high-level language was?
>It was created in 1953 by J. H. Laning and Neil Zierler, two MIT scientists. 
>It was developed for the Whirlwind computer, but was too incredibly slow for 
>any actual use. 

Was this pre FORTRAN? (Which was 1953, and the group was led by Grace Hopper.)

I understood it wasn't too inefficient, as they were anxious to ensure
the idea couldn't be criticised on grounds of inefficiency.
(Other interesting things that happened in 1953:
	DNA discovered; Hilary climbed Everest; Laurel & Hardy
	appeared on stage for the first time in the UK; Stalin died;
	the maser was invented; Queen Elizabeth II was crowned; I was born.)

Alan Wills
Alan Wills
University of Manchester, UK
+44-61-275 6135