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FORTRAN Full Form- Formula Translation

Updated on 22 February, 2024

upGrad Abroad Team

upGrad Abroad Team

upGrad abroad Editorial Team

What is FORTRAN? The full form of FORTRAN is Formula Translation. 

The acronym for FORTRAN is "FORmula TRANslation." 

This programming language was created in the 1950s for use in engineering and science applications, and it is still widely used for similar purposes today. Because of its reputation for doing numerical computations efficiently, FORTRAN is frequently used for applications like machine learning, data analysis, and simulations. 

"Formula translation" in the context of FORTRAN describes the language's capacity to convert mathematical expressions and formulas into a format that a computer can understand. 

The purpose of FORTRAN is to facilitate the writing of programs that carry out numerical calculations, including solving equations or doing statistical analysis, for scientists and engineers. The language's syntax and features, which are specially designed for this purpose, include the ability to use functions and subroutines, define variables, and carry out arithmetic operations.

Who Developed FORTRAN and Why?

IBM created FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) in the 1950s. John Backus was an IBM researcher who oversaw the language's design at the time. Being one of the original high-level programming languages, FORTRAN is more abstract and user-friendly than low-level languages, which demand that the programmer provide precise instructions for the computer to follow.FORTRAN was first published in 1957, and since then, it has undergone a number of modifications and revisions.

In order to facilitate the creation of programs that carry out numerical computations, scientists and engineers created FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) in the 1950s. Programming languages were far less sophisticated and intuitive back then than they are now, making it challenging for users without a strong foundation in computer science to create complex applications. FORTRAN is a high-level programming language that was created especially for scientific and technical applications in order to solve this issue. Its capabilities, which included the capacity to construct variables, carry out arithmetic operations, and employ functions and subroutines, greatly facilitated the process of writing programs that could carry out intricate numerical computations.

upGrad Abroad Team

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