George(ID:2533/)

MIT algebraic compiler 

for a ficitious generalized factotum called George - "Let George do it" was a common expression at the time

George is probably the first compiler, as George predated L&Z with the same functonality, and L&Z is generally assumed (Ceruzzi, Knuth) to be the first compiler. Use of George waned when the lab bought a IBM 650.

FORTRAN Influence?:
"In June of 1954, almost two years after Hal had begun his work, John Backus and a team of programming researchers from IBM came to MIT for a demonstration of George. They were beginning work on a programming system for IBM's newly announced 704 calculator. As a result of this visit, algebraic expressions found their way into the Fortran language."

Hardware:
Related languages
George => FORTRAN   Influence
George => Laning and Zierler   Evolution of
George => MAC   Evolution of
George => MITILAC   Implementation of

Samples:
References:
  • Battin, R. H. "Space guidance evolution - A personal narrative" Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, vol. 5, Mar.-Apr. 1982, pp97-110 view details Extract: Origins of MITILAC
    Since MAC was not then available on our IBM 650, some of the early analysis of the Atlas guidance system was made using a program, which Bob O'Keefe, Mary Petrick, and I developed, known as the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory Automatic Coding 650 Program or, simply, MITILAC. We modeled the coding format to resemble that used for the CPC. to minimize the transitional shock to those laboratory engineers who, though still uncomfortable with the digital computer, were beginning to wean themselves away from their more familiar analog devices. Extract: Origin of HAL name
    Since the principal architect of HAL was Jim Miller, who co-authored with Hal Laning a report on the MAC system, it is a reasonable speculation that the space shuttle language is named for Jim?s old mentor, and not, as some have suggested, for the electronic superstar of the Arthur Clarke movie "2001-A Space Odyssey."
    Extract: Origins of George
    In the summer of 1952, following about six months ex-perience as a user of Whirlwind, my boss, Dr. J. Halcombe Laning Jr., became enamored of the idea that computers should be capable of accepting conventional mathematical language directly, without the time consuming intermediate step of recasting engineering problems in an awkward, and all too error-prone, logic that was far removed from the engineer's daily experiences. Over the next few months he personally brought this idea to fruition with the successful development of the first algebraic compiler called, affectionately, "George" (from the old saw "Let George do it").
    Of some interest are the first compiler statements successfully executed by "George":
    x = l
    Print x.
    Unfortunately, this is not as well-known as
    "Watson! Come here. I need you."
    since few programmers are aware of this bit of folklore.
    The first nontrivial program performed by George was a set of six nonlinear differential equations describing the lead-pursuit dynamics of an air-to-air fire control problem. The power of this grandfather of all compilers was aptly demonstrated?the equations were programmed in less than one hour, and successfully executed on the very first trial.
    When "peripherals" were added to the Whirlwind computer, Hal Laning encouraged Neal Zierler to collaborate in extending, perfecting, and documenting George. In June of 1954, almost two years after Hal had begun his work, John Backus and a team of programming researchers from IBM came to MIT for a demonstration of George. They were beginning work on a programming system for IBM's newly announced 704 calculator. As a result of this visit, algebraic expressions found their way into the Fortran language.
    For historical interest, a program I wrote in March 1954 using the George compiler to compute the Atlas missile trajectory is reproduced in Fig. 1. The notation was constrained by the symbol availability on a Flexowriter, a specially designed typewriter that produced a coded pattern of holes in a paper tape. Since only superscripts were available, subscripts were indicated with a vertical slash prefix. The upper case letter D in the program denotes d/dt. The symbols F2 and F3 designate the sine and cosine functions.
    The use of and interest in George began to wane when our laboratory acquired its own stored program digital computer?an IBM type 650 Magnetic Drum Data Processing Machine?in the fall of 1954.