From the article: "When a tour guide inquired, Mr. Backus mentioned that he was a graduate student in math; he was whisked upstairs and asked a series of questions Mr. Backus described as math “brain teasers.” It was an informal oral exam, with no recorded score.
He was hired on the spot. As what? “As a programmer,” Mr. Backus replied, shrugging. “That was the way it was done in those days.” This sounds much like my "informal oral" interview in 1965 that landed me my first programming job for the University of Florida Physics Dept. Ah, good times... Ed Leafe wrote: > From the obituary: > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created > Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped > open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in > Ashland, Ore. He was 82. > > His daughter Karen Backus announced the death, saying the family did > not know the cause, other than age. > > Fortran, released in 1957, was “the turning point” in computer > software, much as the microprocessor was a giant step forward in > hardware, according to J. A. N. Lee, a leading computer historian. > > Fortran changed the terms of communication between humans and > computers, moving up a level to a language that was more > comprehensible by humans. So Fortran, in computing vernacular, is > considered the first successful higher-level language. > > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > > > > _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
