On Sun, 20 Aug 2000, W. J. Metzger wrote:
> When FORTRAN was first invented, I think there was only one input device
> that mattered, the 026 key punch. Apart from the console, what else was
> there for an IBM machine?
I'm sure you are right: Fortran was an IBM invention and its early
development was naturally done on the prevailing hardware, especially the
026 keypunch. I think the designers did a good job. As far as I know,
they used every character on that keypunch in the syntax of the language,
with one exception, the $ or "currency symbol". This was a supported
character, but there wasn't anything you could do with it, except use it
as a continuation marker (which made it a very good choice for that, in my
opinion, because if it ever got misplaced either way it caused a syntax
error).
There was, I think, a rationalisation for this exception, which was that
the "currency symbol" might not be available internationally: for example
perhaps those crazy English had a pound sign there which would be
confusing. (We didn't, in my experience: it was always left as a dollar
on all the keypunches that I ever used).
This is an interesting example of how the limitations of hardware dating
back maybe 50 years have restricted language design. Of course the querty
layout of the letters has had a malign influence on text entry for even
longer, but's more seriously off topic.
--
Clive Page,
Dept of Physics & Astronomy,
University of Leicester.
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