A compiler is software that translates computer code written in one programming language into another, most often translating a high-level programming language into a low-level language such as assembly language, object code or machine code to create an executable program. Grace Hopper's team at Remington Rand wrote the compiler for the A-0 programming language in May 1952 and coined the term compiler to describe it, and Alick Glennie's Autocode compiler for the Manchester Mark I, completed the same year, is considered by some historians the first compiled programming language. A team led by John Backus at IBM developed FORTRAN between 1954 and 1957, usually regarded as the first high-level programming language, and compilers have since become the standard tool for turning human-written source code into a form a computer can execute directly.
Facts
SignificanceGrace Hopper's team coined the word compiler for their 1952 A-0 program, but it was the FORTRAN compiler that IBM's team led by John Backus completed in 1957 that is generally credited with being the first unambiguously complete compiler. 1 FAQs
Who coined the word compiler?
Grace Hopper coined the term.
The word compiler was coined by the American computer scientist Grace Hopper, who designed one of the first compilers in the early 1950s, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
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Invented By
Her team at Remington Rand wrote the compiler for the A-0 programming language in May 1952 and coined the term compiler.
Sources
1. Compiler (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory section, milestones list, May 1952 entry
May 1952: Grace Hopper's team at Remington Rand wrote the compiler for the A-0 programming language (and coined the term compiler to describe it), although the A-0 compiler functioned more as a loader or linker than the modern notion of a full compiler.
History section, milestones list, 1957 FORTRAN entry
In 1957, they completed a FORTRAN compiler that is generally credited as having introduced the first unambiguously complete compiler.
In Group: Software Development Tools and Interfaces, Lead
a compiler is software that translates computer code written in one programming language (the source language) into another language (the target language)
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