I learned to program FORTRAN IV in the spring of 1968 while working as an engineering technician in water resources. One of the engineers knew of my interest in computers and asked if I would like … ...

John Backus, whose development of the Fortran programming language in the 1950s changed how people interacted with computers and paved the way for modern software, has died. He was 82.

FORTRAN IV came out in 1962. It was followed by updates in ’66, ’77, ’90, ’95, 2003, and 2008. Work is currently proceeding on Fortran 2015 to be released in 2018.