【Old News】 Mr. Jean · E · Samet, one of the developers of "COBOL" and the creator of "FORMAC", dies at the age of 89

Mr. Gene E. Samed, a computer scientist who is a member of the Data System Language Committee (CODASYL) that produced the programming language "COBOL", and is also the creator of the mathematical expression processing language "FORMAC", May 20, 2017 He died on Saturday. I was 89 years old.

Computer pioneer Jean Sammet '48 has died | Mount Holyoke College
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/media/computer-pioneer-jean-sammet-48-has-died


Jean Sammet, Co-Designer of a Pioneering Computer Language, Dies at 89 - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/04/technology/obituary-jean-sammet-software-designer-cobol.html


Jean Sammet | Computer History Museum
http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/jean-sammet/

Mr. Samed was born in New York in 1928. Although I was interested in mathematics since I was a child, Bronx High School, which is known for being strong in mathematics and science, was a boys' school then I could not enroll, and from Julia Richman High SchoolMount Holyoke UniversityI got a bachelor's degree in mathematics. After graduation I studied mathematics further at the graduate school of Illinois University and got a master's degree. In the interview held in 2000, Mr. Samed felt that when I first encountered a computer while I was in this graduate school, Mr. Samet felt it was a very bad hardware, and I did not think I wanted to do something with it " He said that he was not impressed.

At the time Mr. Samed was aiming for teaching and was acquiring a teaching license from New York City at the time of studying at Mount Holyoke University but because he did not find a job hunt, he decided to apply for a job in New Jersey. However, in order to obtain a teaching license in mathematics in New Jersey province, units of "pedagogy" and "history of New Jersey" are insufficient and you will move on to a different genre position.

Mr. Samed, who will work as a trainee at the office of the Metropolitan Life Insurance, will participate in the internal education program on punch card accounting machines and reunite with the computer, but after the program does not have the opportunity to touch the accounting machine, I will quit my office and aim for PhD in Columbia University. Mr. Samet joined the Sperry · Gyroscope of the electrical manufacturer in 1953 and started living as a programmer in 1955, thinking that the university is no longer necessary for himself in the student life of two years.

Just in 1955, Sperry · Gyroscope merged with Remington Land which was manufacturing office equipment and it was renamed "Sperry Land". Remington Land is known as the manufacturer of UNIVAC Ⅰ, the first commercial computer in the United States, and Mr. Samed joined UNIVAC Ⅰ and its developmentGrace HopperI got the opportunity to meet Mr..

As a computer engineer, Mr. Samed ceased Sperry Land in 1959 and joined Sylvania Electric Products. And we will be involved in "COBOL" development.

In 1959 IBM was the mainstream programming language in 1957FORTRANHowever, in addition to this, there are many programming languages ​​and the cost of programming is 800,000 dollars (the rate at that time is 360 yen per dollar, which is equivalent to 288 million yen), furthermore with new hardware It took 600,000 dollars (216 million yen) to execute the program, and it was thought about cost reduction by using common language.

Mary K. Hawes, a computer scientist, gathered engineers, manufacturers, scholars and others including Mr. Samed and Mr. Hopper and others to set the concept of the common language "COBOL", and the delegation asked the Department of Defense for support It was. The Department of Defense also operated 225 computers, 175 were waiting to be deployed, and the operation cost reached more than 200 million dollars (72 billion yen), so we decided to support. CODASYL was organized on June 4, 1959.

CODASYL mainly programming language developed by Mr. Hopper ·FLOW-MATIC, IBMCOMTRAN, I studied AIMACO and built "COBOL". By the way, FLOW-MATIC and COMTRAN are regarded as competitors, and COBOL inherits characteristics such as long variable names, words for commands, separation of data description and instructions from FLOW-MATIC, while COMTRAN Features are not inherited so much. In 1981, Mr. Samed says that some members of the committee including himself, including himself, developed "strong anti-IBM bias" when developing COBOL.

ByKurt Magoon

By the way, Mr. Samed joined IBM in 1962 and will produce "FORMAC" known as mathematical expression processing language. From 1974 to 1976 he was also the first female chairman of the Computer Society (ACM), and was definitely a world authority in the history of programming languages.

The appearance of Mr. Samed, who received the IEEE Computer Society's "Computer Pioneer Award" in 2009, looks like this.

Jean E. Sammet ing 2009 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award - YouTube