Progam
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When we interact with the computer, we do it through symbols. Programming the earliest computers, such as ENIAC, was done through physically rewiring the mammoth machines. Based on the theoretical work of Alan Turing (British mathematician, logician, and cryptographer, 1912-54) the ENIAC was the first electronic general-purpose computer, which meant that it could be re-programmed to execute more than one program. Another mathematician, John von Neumann (Hungarian-American mathematician, 1903-57), realized that a computer that could store its programs electronically would be easier to re-program; the computer could modify its program as it went along. In effect, it could make decisions. The earliest programming languages were written in machine language: zeros and ones. Eventually, programming allowed the use of more natural human speech through the introduction of assembly language and then high-level programming languages, such as FORTRAN, which was developed in 1956.
1. A magic spell cast over a computer allowing it to turn one's input into error messages.
2. An exercise in experimental epistemology.
3. A form of art, ostensibly intended for the instruction of computers, which is nevertheless almost inevitably a failure if other programmers can't understand it.
- The New Hacker's Dictionary
