John Backus, the inventor of FORTRAN died this week. The world loses another old head and builds from his discoveries and work.
I personally had a love hate relationship with FORTRAN. I learned FORTRAN IV in advance of the FORTRAN 77 standard. Yeah I was still a kid in highschool but I recognized flaws with the language when I saw them. I actually tried to build a game in FORTRAN. That's why I hated it. It was just too inflexible. If only I had seen Simula back then.
But I came to love Backus when I learned BNF, and have appreciated him for that, ever since. Rest, great man.
Recent Comments