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Yes, and the paper distinguishes between programming and coding. Step one is "Analysis and Programming", step two is "Coding." It's step two that FORTRAN virt
by KC8ZKF 14y ago
Yes, and the paper distinguishes between programming and coding. Step one is "Analysis and Programming", step two is "Coding." It's step two that FORTRAN virtually eliminates.
- gruseom 14y agoCorrect. It's only because of the success of higher-level languages like FORTRAN that "coding" and "programming" came to mean the same thing. Before that, programming was part of the requirements. We've become inured to silver-bullet bullshit in software, but it's an anachronism to think that about this report, which was dead right. In fact by subsequent standards their claim was rather modest. The full quote reads: Since FORTRAN should virtually eliminate coding and debugging, it should be possible to solve problems for less than half the cost that would be required without such a system.