Arithmetic Language version 0 was created by legendary computer pioneer Grace Hopper in the early 1950s. It was the first compiler ever made for an electronic computer, and was written for the the UNIVAC I, which Hopper also had a hand in developing. She began developing A-0 in 1951, and new versions led to the A-2 compiler being released to customers in 1953. A-0 later evolved into MATH-MATIC and FLOW-MATIC, but were essentially newer versions of the original. The use of compilers is now synonymous with software development, and an endless variety grew out of Hopper’s original ideas.
Category Archives: 1952
IAS Computer
Development of the IAS Computer at the Institute for Advanced Study began in 1945. Designed and built by Alfred von Nuemann based on some earlier concepts, it is also known as the von Nuemann machine. This also spawned the von Neumann architecture, in influential stored-program computing design that is still in use today. It’s plans were distributed widely, and it spawned a whole class of derivative computers that were called “IAS machines”.