Article Free Access Share on Jean E. Sammet interview: March 28, April 4, April 11 and April 18, 2006 Author: Thomas J. (Tim) Bergin View Profile , Interviewee: Jean E. Sammet View Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM Oral History interviewsJanuary 2006 Interview No.: 7https://doi.org/10.1145/1141880.1243440Online:01 January 2006Publication History 4citation997DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations4Total Downloads997Last 12 Months124Last 6 weeks7 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

The term problem-oriented languages, if taken literally, is too general to be useful in the taxonomy of programming languages. In its most general meaning, one would have to include any programming language that helps solve problems. Thus, Fortran (q.v.) is a problem-oriented language when one solves scientific or numeric problems. Cobol (Common Business-Oriented Language--q.v.) is problem oriented, even in its title, for business problems. However, accepted usage in computer science literature has imposed a narrower context for problem-oriented languages than one that could encompass Fortran and Cobol. From this more restricted point of view, synonyms for problem-oriented are applications-oriented or special-purpose or specialized-application or domain-specific.

This article describes some of the basic characteristics of the class of programming languages commonly referred to as nonprocedural or very high level (see Leavenworth and Sammet, 1974). Some of the descriptive terms that have often been applied to the word language to convey essentially the same concept are the following:

From the outset, the development of software has been directed toward the apparently contradictory, but in fact complementary goals of bringing the computer closer to the user while keeping the user at a distance. The first goal has involved the creation of programming languages and systems to facilitate the development of the applications that make the computer useful. The second has included the operating systems that oversee these applications and manage the hardware and software resources on which they draw. Looking back from the 1990s, one may divide the history of software into two major periods: an industrial period, during which the main areas of software--programming languages; operating systems; data handling; and software tools, techniques, and methodologies--were established; and a consumer period, during which those products were adapted to the personal computer and to the needs and interests of nonexpert users. The second stage in particular has focused on making computers ;user-friendly by interposing layers of transparent software between the user and the machine (see TRANSPARENCY).

The definition of the term programming language can vary with the context: these languages are both tools for directing the operation of a computer and tools for organizing and expressing solutions to problems. In order to lead up to the one proposed by this writer, we must consider various level of languages used for dealing with the computer.

A lengthy overview article on high-level languages could be writtenfrom many different viewpoints. . . . I have tried to make thiscontribution very broad, rather than deep in any particular area. . . .Each potential reader will find at least one section of direct interest.. . . Language specialists will find much of this material to betechnically superficial. I have tried to provide an overview ofall the issues which I think areworth mentioning in 1980. As a result, the coverage of most sections issuperficial.—From the Introduction

Contrary to persistent myths, a committee initially created Cobol in 1959, not one person. The article outlines the creation and mission of the committee that developed the language and a few of the major inputs and influences on Cobol's initial development, including the people actually involved. This material is based on documents from the 1959 committee work which are in the possession of the author.

The Program Committee felt that it might be of some interest to you to get two pieces of information. One was some perception of what his happened in the programming language area in the last fifteen years, and then a little bit of introduction to making history, particularly for those of you who were not at the Forum yesterday.

This paper describes some factors in, approaches to, and specific elements of, programming language history. It first lists a number of general factors and approaches which can be used to discuss the history of programming languages. After presenting a life cycle for programming language development, it provides numerous illustrations of programming language history and chronology from many of the viewpoints indicated earlier. There is a brief discussion of relevant literature and a section indicating some of the reasons for the vast proliferation of programming languages. Various charts and lists are included. This paper should be viewed as one approach to considering the history of programming languages, rather than as a history of programming languages per se.

article Free Access Share on Notes on what language maturity means, and how to measure it Author: J. E. Sammet IBM, Bethesda, MD IBM, Bethesda, MDView Profile Authors Info & Claims ACM SIGPLAN NoticesVolume 23Issue 10Oct. 1988 pp 69–71https://doi.org/10.1145/51607.51611Published:01 October 1988Publication History 0citation110DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads110Last 12 Months15Last 6 weeks3 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my Alerts New Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

Article Warum ADA® nicht nur eine weitere Programmiersprache ist/ Why ADA® is not just another programming language was published on April 1, 1987 in the journal it - Information Technology (volume 29, issue 4).

Ada's importance goes far beyond its initial limited goals. The worldwide interest in the usage of Ada is one of many reasons for its uniqueness.

article Free Access Share on In recognition of the 25th anniversary of Computing Reviews: selected reviews 1960–1984 Authors: Jean E. Sammet View Profile , Robert W. Rector View Profile Authors Info & Claims Communications of the ACMVolume 28Issue 1Jan. 1985pp 53–68https://doi.org/10.1145/2465.214920Published:02 January 1985Publication History 1citation522DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations1Total Downloads522Last 12 Months20Last 6 weeks2 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

The two definitive presentations of the history of programming languages are: Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals, by Jean E. Sammet, and History of Programming Languages, edited by R. L. Wexelblat. The former was not intended to be just a history, but was an exposition of the state of the programming language field circa 1966-1967; the detailed descriptions of the origins of the languages in the book were at that time the most complete history published. In 1978 Sammet chaired the ACM/SIGPLAN Conference on the History of Programming Languages (HOPL) from which the text of the same title was created. In that volume are both a formal paper on the history of COBOL and the transcript of Sammet's presentation. This following article is an unedited extract from the formal paper, reprinted with the permission of ACM and Academic Press. We chose not to reprint the complete paper here because it is readily accessible, but we are printing a significant portion of it to provide Annals readers with an overview of the early COBOL development. The full version of the paper was reviewed in draft form by most of the key participants of that time period; they generally did not object to the information provided. Thus, that paper and the extract printed here present an accurate description of which people participated, or played major roles, or did not participate in the language definition.

Sammet and Garfunkel Trace some of the changes in COBOL from its initial 1960 specifications to its current draft 1985 standard. Sammet was there at the beginning, and Garfunkel has been deeply involved in the upgrading of the language and documenting its changes over various versions. The paper contains illustrations of language features that have changed over time.