The History of Computer Programming
It may be said that the history of computer programming and the history of the computer itself are one. A computer is just a decorative item until a program makes it function.
The history of computer programming might be traced back as far as 1206 when an Arab scholar and inventor named Al-Jazari made a humanoid robot that was operated by a series of cams and levers. The cams and levers could be “programmed” to produce various reactions and operations. This was the essence of programming. It is a method of giving instructions to a machine.
The Jacqurd Loom in 1801 and the Analytical Engine made by Charles Babbage in 1830 used punch cards to give the instructions to the machine. These two devices were early developments that would ultimately lead to programming as it is done today. This early step was the recognition that there was a need to find a way to feed information that was written by humans into the machine. The punch card was the foundation of the data processing revolution and for the next 100 years, it was the method that was used to program and operate the calculating devices that would usher in the computer age.
It was the invention of the Von Neuman Architecture that made it possible to store different programs into memory. Prior to this development, a single program had to be devised to operate a specific machine. The machines could be reprogrammed, but the information could not be stored. Every change required reprogramming again. In 1954, FORTRAN became the first “computer programming language” that could be used to write the codes that would now be stored in the memory of the computing device. COBOL and other unique languages soon followed.
The last few decades have seen a sudden leap of technology in the area of programming. It was like a dam had burst and the waters of change swept like a flood over the landscape. Rapid increases in processing ability and the ability to make the physical size of memory hardware smaller and smaller while their capacity increased created the modern world of the computer that we enjoy today.
The role of programming has become more complex, but it has also not changed from its fundamental purpose. The programmer still must give the machine the instructions that it needs to perform its intended function. Although this function has changed from simple computing to incredible graphic games and massive data control, the programmer must still write his program in a language that he understands, but can also be understood by the computer. The history of programming as it is today may very well be only chapter one of a longer saga.