history: FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) was created in 1954 by John Backus and other researchers at International Business Machines (now IBM). Released in 1957. Intended for numerical and scientific work. FORTRAN is the oldest programming language still in common use. Identifiers were limited to six characters. Elegant representation of mathematic expressions, as well as relatively easy input and output. FORTRAN was based on A-0