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The beginning and development of FORMAC (FORmula MAnipulation Compiler)

Author:

Jean E. SammetAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGPLAN Notices, Volume 28, Issue 3

Pages 209 - 230

https://doi.org/10.1145/155360.155372

Published: 01 March 1993 Publication History

Abstract

The first widely available programming language for symbolic mathematical computation to have significant practical usage was FORMAC (FORmula MAnipulation Compiler). This paper discusses the earliest conceptual work in detail, and then provides information about later developments of the language. Other languages and systems of the early and mid-1960s are described briefly, with emphasis on their relation to FORMAC. There are also a few glimpses into the software management process at IBM. Finally there is an evaluation of FORMAC and its influence.

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Cited By

Saharan VBanerjee SPenuli SDobhal S(2022)History and Present Scenario of Computers in Pharmaceutical Research and DevelopmentComputer Aided Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery10.1007/978-981-16-5180-9_1(1-38)Online publication date: 31-May-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5180-9_1
MacCallum M(2018)Computer algebra in gravity researchLiving Reviews in Relativity10.1007/s41114-018-0015-621:1Online publication date: 20-Aug-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41114-018-0015-6

Index Terms

The beginning and development of FORMAC (FORmula MAnipulation Compiler)

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGPLAN Notices

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 28, Issue 3

March 1993

363 pages

ISSN:0362-1340

EISSN:1558-1160

DOI:10.1145/155360

Editor:
Richard L. Wexelblat
ACM SIGPLAN Notices; IDA/CSED, Alexandria, VA

Issue’s Table of Contents

HOPL-II: The second ACM SIGPLAN conference on History of programming languages
April 1993
370 pages
ISBN:0897915704
DOI:10.1145/154766
Conference Chair:
John A. N. Lee,
Program Chair:
Jean E. Sammet

Copyright © 1993 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Publication History

Published: 01 March 1993

Published in SIGPLAN Volume 28, Issue 3

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Cited By

Saharan VBanerjee SPenuli SDobhal S(2022)History and Present Scenario of Computers in Pharmaceutical Research and DevelopmentComputer Aided Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery10.1007/978-981-16-5180-9_1(1-38)Online publication date: 31-May-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5180-9_1
MacCallum M(2018)Computer algebra in gravity researchLiving Reviews in Relativity10.1007/s41114-018-0015-621:1Online publication date: 20-Aug-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/s41114-018-0015-6

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