History of the Plankalkül Programming Language by Konrad Zuse
Konrad Zuse designed Plankalkül between 1942 and 1945, the first known high-level programming language. It stayed on paper for decades, yet anticipated ideas later found in ALGOL.
Teaching & Early Languages
Short Code: The Short Code Language for the UNIVAC I
Short Code, proposed by John Mauchly in 1949, let programmers write equations instead of machine instructions. It ran on the BINAC and UNIVAC I as an interpreter.
Autocode: The First Compiled Programming Language?
Autocode began with Alick Glennie's 1952 compiler for the Manchester Mark 1 and grew into a family of British languages, from Mark 1 Autocode to Atlas Autocode.
ALGOL: How ALGOL 60 Influenced Modern Programming Languages
ALGOL began as an international committee language in 1958. ALGOL 60 introduced block structure and BNF and shaped Pascal, Simula, C and most languages since.
BASIC: Why BASIC Was Invented at Dartmouth College
BASIC was created at Dartmouth in 1964 so that every student, not just scientists, could use a computer. It went on to define the home computer era.
Logo: How Logo Turtle Graphics Taught Children Programming
Logo was created in 1967 to help children think mathematically. Its turtle graphics turned geometry into something kids could program and see.
Pascal: Why Niklaus Wirth Designed Pascal for Teaching
Niklaus Wirth released Pascal in 1970 to teach structured programming clearly. It went on to power classrooms, Turbo Pascal, the early Mac and Delphi.
