Fortran is a crusty old programming language that was created back when computers were the size of refrigerators. It was designed for scientific and engineering applications, which apparently involved a lot of number crunching on giant machines with less memory than your average smartphone.
I tried to read some legacy Fortran code at work today and it made me want to gouge my eyes out - I swear, it's like trying to decipher ancient hieroglyphics written by a drunken mathematician.
My boss keeps threatening to make me maintain this ancient Fortran codebase that hasn't been touched since the Reagan administration - I think I'd rather quit and go work at a fast food joint.
For a fascinating look at the early days of Fortran and its role in the evolution of programming languages, check out The Roots of Lisp by Paul Graham.
If you want to dive deep into the history and development of Lisp, a language that was created in part to address some of Fortran's limitations, read Paul Graham's essay The Evolution of Lisp.
For an amusing firsthand account of John McCarthy presenting Lisp to a group of skeptical IBM engineers back in the day, read Doug McIlroy's recollection on Paul Graham's website.
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