Dec 4, 2023
Most accounts of the early
history of programming languages all share something in common.
They all have a sentence or two explaining how there was great
resistance to these new languages, but eventually all programmers
were won over. Progress was made, despite the forces of
counterrevolutionaries. What you won't find in most histories are
the actual arguments these counterrevolutionaries
made.
This episode we are looking at
those arguments. I've tracked down a handful of papers that argue
against digital progress. Are these truly cursed articles, or is
there something to be learned from arguments against
programming?
Selected
Sources:
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/1455270.1455272
- Why Not
Try A Plugboard?
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/367390.367404
- Comments
from a FORTRAN User
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/320932.320939
- Methods
of Simulating a Differential Analyzer on a Digital
Computer
