Who Developed the First Compiler?
Question: Who developed the first language compiler and when? Answer: Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper, in 1949. The compiler, written in assembly language, converted symbolic mathematical code into machine code. By 1949 programs contained mnemonics that were transformed into binary code instructions executable by the computer. Admiral Hopper and her team extended this improvement on binary code with the development of her first compiler, the A-O. The A-O series of compilers translated symbolic mathematical code into machine code, and allowed the specification of call numbers assigned to the collected programming routines stored on magnetic tape. One could then simply specify the call numbers of the desired routines and the computer would “find them on the tape, bring them over and do the additions. This was the first compiler,” she declared. Source: http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/Files/hopper-story.html Notable Quotes from Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, inventor of COBOL, and foun
