Fortran

Fortran, in computer science, acronym for FORmula TRANslation. The first high-level computer language (developed 1954-1958 by John Backus) and the progenitor of many key high-level concepts, such as variables, expressions, statements, iterative and conditional statements, separately compiled subroutines, and formatted input/output. Fortran is a compiled, structured language. The name indicates its scientific and engineering roots; Fortran is still used heavily in those fields, although the language itself has been expanded and improved vastly over the last 35 years to become a language that is useful in any field. See also Compiled Language; High-Level Language; Structured Programming.