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.
This Day In Tech History
Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons.
-Popular Mechanics, March 1949More Tech History
The Chernobyl virus is discovered. It's the first to infect the BIOS.
Fear of the Millennium Bug causes industrialized countries and companies around the world to spend billions in correcting the error before the dawn of the new century.
Shawn Fanning creates Napster.
The Melissa virus appears, one of the fastest spreading viruses ever.
The First Internet Bank of Indiana is online. It is the first internet-only banking service.