John Backus

Date of Birth: December 3, 1924

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

Date of Death: March 17, 2007

Biography

John Warner Backus was an esteemed American computer scientist, best known for his profound contributions to the development of high-level programming languages. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Backus initially pursued a degree in chemistry but quickly shifted his focus to mathematics and computing. In the early 1950s, he joined IBM, where his career flourished. Backus led the team that developed FORTRAN (Formula Translation), the first high-level programming language, which revolutionized the field of computer science by making programming more accessible and efficient. Backus’s work didn’t stop with FORTRAN; he also made significant contributions to the development of the Backus-Naur Form (BNF), a notation technique for context-free grammars, which became a standard tool in the design and analysis of programming languages. His contributions earned him numerous accolades, including the Turing Award in 1977. John Backus’s innovative work laid the groundwork for modern computing and had a lasting impact on the field.

5 Interesting Facts about John Backus

1. John Backus originally intended to become a doctor but switched to mathematics after struggling with medical school.

2. He led the IBM team that developed FORTRAN, which was first released in 1957.

3. Backus introduced the concept of “automatic programming,” which aimed to simplify the programming process for users.

4. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1975, one of the highest honors for scientific achievement in the United States.

5. Backus’s development of the Backus-Naur Form (BNF) has been crucial in the development of compilers and interpreters for programming languages.

5 Most Interesting Quotes from John Backus

1. “Much of my work has come from being lazy. I didn’t like writing programs, and so when I was working on the IBM 701, writing programs for computing missile trajectories, I started work on a programming system to make it easier to write programs.”

2. “You need the willingness to fail all the time. You have to generate many ideas and then cull them.”

3. “Programming in machine code is like doing arithmetic in Roman numerals.”

4. “I think that the people who are making systems should sort of hang around with the people who are using them.”

5. “The most important single aspect of software development is to be clear about what you are trying to build.”

Highest Net Worth Achieved

John Backus’s highest net worth is not publicly documented, but his contributions to IBM and the field of computer science were invaluable and highly influential.