Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
4
Tower of Babel
Is a language really going to solve this problem? Do we really design languages
for use by what we might call professional programmers or are we designing
them for use by some sub-human species in order to get around training and
having good programmers? Is a language ever going to get around the training
and having good programmers?
—RAND Symposium on Programming Languages, 1962
Automatic Programmers
The fi rst commercial electronic digital computers became available in the
early 1950s. For a short period, the focus of most manufacturers was on
the development of innovative hardware. Most of the users of these early
computers were large and technically sophisticated corporations and
government agencies. In the middle of the decade, however, users and
manufacturers alike became increasingly concerned with the rising cost
of software development. By the beginning of the 1960s, the origins of
“software turmoil” that would soon become a full-blown software crisis
were readily apparent.
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As larger and more ambitious software projects were attempted, and
the shortage of experienced programmers became more pronounced,
industry managers began to look for ways to reduce costs by simplifying
the programming process. A number of potential solutions were pro-
posed: the use of aptitude tests and personnel profi les to identify the
truly gifted superprogrammers; updated training standards and com-
puter science curricula; and new management methods that would
allow for the use of less-skilled laborers. The most popular and widely
adopted solution, however, was the development of automatic program-
ming technologies. These new tools promised to “eliminate the middle-
man” by allowing users to program their computers directly, without
