The beginning and development of FORMAC

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The beginning and development of FORMAC: FORmula MAnipulation Compiler

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History of programming languages---II book contents

SECTION: FORMAC session table of contents

Pages: 429 - 469

Year of Publication: 1996

Author

Jean E. Sammet

Bethesda, MD

Publisher

ACM New York, NY, USA

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ABSTRACT

The first widely available programming language for symbolic mathematical computation to have significant practical was FORMAC (FORmula MAnipulation Compiler). This paper discusses the earliest conceptual work in detail, and then provides information about later developments of the language. Other languages and systems of the early and mid-1960s are described briefly, with emphasis on their relation to FORMAC. There are also a few glimpses into the software management process at IBM. Finally there is an evaluation of FORMAC and its influence.

REFERENCES

Note: OCR errors may be found in this Reference List extracted from the full text article. ACM has opted to expose the complete List rather than only correct and linked references.

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