9 ms·

What programming languages were used by the Soviet Union's space program?

271 points by mootothemax 14y ago

mladenkovacevic 14y ago
I'm sorry I don't know but I recently came across this device which is I guess a complex mechnical trajectory tracker and I believe was the only device used to determine any corrections needed to steer the spacecraft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_Spacecraft_%22Globus%22_IMP_navigation_instrument http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_Spacecraft_%22Globus%22... .. It's definitely an interesting read.... and sorry again for not answering your question. EDIT: So from what I understand this is how it worked: they would record their initial trajectory observations from the ground as the rocket was fired into space. They would then enter that data into the mechanical Globus or IMP which would track the rocket while it was circling around Earth. Russians could only visually track it while it was over their own space as they did not have bases all over the world. The Globus would make sure they weren't flying totally blind. It wasn't perfect, however, and as the spacecraft came back into their observable space they would have to make minor corrections on the Globus and then instructed the astronauts in the spacecraft which firing sequence to perform in order to stay on course.
- aquarin 14y ago
  Just a minor note: "astronauts" in Soviet Bloc are called "cosmonauts" (Космонавт).
sparknlaunch 14y ago
>> "This language is also intended for using by non-programmers." Hardly surprising the Russians created their own programming language (doubt this is available via open source). However positive to see they aimed it towards non programmers. Are there any Drakon programmers on HN?
- myko 14y ago
  Maybe not yet, but I'm sure there soon will be: http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/ http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/
  - lpgauth 14y ago
    Really curious to see the Erlang code generation...
- illicium 14y ago
  As a kid, I had a book (Паронджанов В.Д., Занимательная информатика; Parondzhanov V.D., Zanimatel'naya Informatika; http://drakon.su/_media/biblioteka/parondzhanov_zanimatelnaya_informatika.pdf http://drakon.su/_media/biblioteka/parondzhanov_zanimatelnay...) that taught programming and logic concepts through Drakon.
- exim 14y ago
  Just to clarify, it is a common misconception in the "western" world to associate USSR with Russians. There were many different nations in USSR.
  - sigkill 14y ago
    Probably similar to the confusion caused by "EU" and "eurozone".
trebuch3t 14y ago
It's not soviet but if you're interested in this you should also see all of the programs used in the Apollo and Gemeni missions: http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/links.html http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/links.html
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
- cicloid 14y ago
  In Soviet Russia computer orders you.
  - tosseraccount 14y ago
    In Soviet Russia, language programs You!
jpwagner 14y ago
Why do people care about "visual programming"? The idea seems nice at first, but you always end up back at traditional programming (http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/python/python.html#classes http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/python/python.html#clas...). To think that this is for non-programmers is silly. I guess also, if it aids readability, why not just generate the charts from code, rather than the other way around?
- DanI-S 14y ago
  Perhaps the idea that code can only be read and manipulated by an educated intellectual minority seemed a revoltingly bourgeoisie concept to those in charge at the time.
  - jpwagner 14y ago
    yours is the answer to "why do people care about non-programmers controlling machines" not "why do people care about visual programming". how do you solve the issue you point out? isn't using symbols to represent something machine-readable what a programming language already is?
    - makmanalp 14y ago
      I think the point is that programming languages fail even in that regard: Even if the syntax is simplistic and understanding is easy, writing code requires a deeper understanding both in terms of how to model things in code and how to conform to syntax ("Oh, I got 2 pages of unrelated errors because I forgot a semicolon"). Both problems don't exist when reading, but do exist when writing.
    - DanI-S 14y ago
      Since the dawn of computing, we've seen great increases in programming productivity as we've ramped up our level of abstraction. I'd assume that visual programming is attractive as it appears to be the next rung on this ladder. It may turn out to be a dead end, but people still try. I'd argue that our next big jump in productivity is likely to come when we are able to have a conversation with an AI about the desired function of a program and have the AI write it for us. Whether visual programming will be a part of this conversation remains to be seen.
gordian 14y ago
I believe the primary language used was BORAT. Sorry, couldn't resist.
farseer 14y ago
Most soviet equipment I have seen (1980-1991) was programmed using plain Assembly or C. The Soviet Union manufactured its own version of the 8086 processor that worked with all popular compilers of that time. However I don't know about the 1970s era.
zwadia 14y ago
Speaking of the 70s, what programming language did all the Luna missions use?
vl 14y ago
In late 80es and early 90es (and probably still) they used Modula 2 for programming satellites and such.
bjornbm 14y ago
Why, Lisp of course: http://twitpic.com/60plzm/full http://twitpic.com/60plzm/full (I don't have anything but that Soviet era mosaic to back it up with.)
siculars 14y ago
In Mother Russia language programs you.
blrblr 14y ago
CCCP, I guess.
timurlenk 14y ago
While this may be off topic, i am actually a lot more interested how they executed the project management part of the whole program. The project management techniques in use today seem like they have been largely developed in the US aeronautics industry. The soviet space program was inteed a complex task requiring coordination with large teams in different areas of development. Is anybody aware how they organize that? is the methodology documented somewhere?

271 points by mootothemax 14y ago

I'm sorry I don't know but I recently came across this device which is I guess a complex mechnical trajectory tracker and I believe was the only device used to determine any corrections needed to steer the spacecraft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_Spacecraft_%22Globus%22_IMP_navigation_instrument http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_Spacecraft_%22Globus%22... .. It's definitely an interesting read.... and sorry again for not answering your question. EDIT: So from what I understand this is how it worked: they would record their initial trajectory observations from the ground as the rocket was fired into space. They would then enter that data into the mechanical Globus or IMP which would track the rocket while it was circling around Earth. Russians could only visually track it while it was over their own space as they did not have bases all over the world. The Globus would make sure they weren't flying totally blind. It wasn't perfect, however, and as the spacecraft came back into their observable space they would have to make minor corrections on the Globus and then instructed the astronauts in the spacecraft which firing sequence to perform in order to stay on course.

aquarin 14y ago
Just a minor note: "astronauts" in Soviet Bloc are called "cosmonauts" (Космонавт).

sparknlaunch 14y ago

>> "This language is also intended for using by non-programmers." Hardly surprising the Russians created their own programming language (doubt this is available via open source). However positive to see they aimed it towards non programmers. Are there any Drakon programmers on HN?

myko 14y ago
Maybe not yet, but I'm sure there soon will be: http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/ http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/
- lpgauth 14y ago
  Really curious to see the Erlang code generation...
illicium 14y ago
As a kid, I had a book (Паронджанов В.Д., Занимательная информатика; Parondzhanov V.D., Zanimatel'naya Informatika; http://drakon.su/_media/biblioteka/parondzhanov_zanimatelnaya_informatika.pdf http://drakon.su/_media/biblioteka/parondzhanov_zanimatelnay...) that taught programming and logic concepts through Drakon.
exim 14y ago
Just to clarify, it is a common misconception in the "western" world to associate USSR with Russians. There were many different nations in USSR.
- sigkill 14y ago
  Probably similar to the confusion caused by "EU" and "eurozone".

trebuch3t 14y ago

It's not soviet but if you're interested in this you should also see all of the programs used in the Apollo and Gemeni missions: http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/links.html http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/links.html

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

cicloid 14y ago
In Soviet Russia computer orders you.
- tosseraccount 14y ago
  In Soviet Russia, language programs You!

jpwagner 14y ago

Why do people care about "visual programming"? The idea seems nice at first, but you always end up back at traditional programming (http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/python/python.html#classes http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/python/python.html#clas...). To think that this is for non-programmers is silly. I guess also, if it aids readability, why not just generate the charts from code, rather than the other way around?

DanI-S 14y ago
Perhaps the idea that code can only be read and manipulated by an educated intellectual minority seemed a revoltingly bourgeoisie concept to those in charge at the time.
- jpwagner 14y ago
  yours is the answer to "why do people care about non-programmers controlling machines" not "why do people care about visual programming". how do you solve the issue you point out? isn't using symbols to represent something machine-readable what a programming language already is?
  - makmanalp 14y ago
    I think the point is that programming languages fail even in that regard: Even if the syntax is simplistic and understanding is easy, writing code requires a deeper understanding both in terms of how to model things in code and how to conform to syntax ("Oh, I got 2 pages of unrelated errors because I forgot a semicolon"). Both problems don't exist when reading, but do exist when writing.
  - DanI-S 14y ago
    Since the dawn of computing, we've seen great increases in programming productivity as we've ramped up our level of abstraction. I'd assume that visual programming is attractive as it appears to be the next rung on this ladder. It may turn out to be a dead end, but people still try. I'd argue that our next big jump in productivity is likely to come when we are able to have a conversation with an AI about the desired function of a program and have the AI write it for us. Whether visual programming will be a part of this conversation remains to be seen.

gordian 14y ago

I believe the primary language used was BORAT. Sorry, couldn't resist.

farseer 14y ago

Most soviet equipment I have seen (1980-1991) was programmed using plain Assembly or C. The Soviet Union manufactured its own version of the 8086 processor that worked with all popular compilers of that time. However I don't know about the 1970s era.

zwadia 14y ago

Speaking of the 70s, what programming language did all the Luna missions use?

vl 14y ago

In late 80es and early 90es (and probably still) they used Modula 2 for programming satellites and such.

bjornbm 14y ago

Why, Lisp of course: http://twitpic.com/60plzm/full http://twitpic.com/60plzm/full (I don't have anything but that Soviet era mosaic to back it up with.)

siculars 14y ago

In Mother Russia language programs you.

blrblr 14y ago

CCCP, I guess.

timurlenk 14y ago

While this may be off topic, i am actually a lot more interested how they executed the project management part of the whole program. The project management techniques in use today seem like they have been largely developed in the US aeronautics industry. The soviet space program was inteed a complex task requiring coordination with large teams in different areas of development. Is anybody aware how they organize that? is the methodology documented somewhere?