Development of Computer Programming

As a civil engineering student, German inventor Konrad Zuse was inspired to develop a machine capable of relieving him of his obligation to perform routine mathematical equations. The product of Zuse’s inspiration emerged in 1938 as the earliest ancestor of modern day computers. The Z1 mechanical calculator, while advanced in its day, featured minimal functionality and the machine was programmed using punched cards. 

Technology rapidly advanced, and by the 1950s, programming technologies such as FORTRAN, were developed that’s capabilities were not limited to basic arithmetic. This new programming technology had the sophistication necessary for finite element analysis, computational physics and science, and was even capable of predicting the weather using complex mathematical equations. These technological advances helped nourish the growth of the Internet, providing programming techniques far more advanced than simple punched cards.

Computer and Internet programming continued to grow, and by the 1980s, the coding language, hypertext markup language (HTML), was designed to ease the process of computer programming, and advance the functionality of websites. Several decades after being released HTML is still used as the easiest and most advanced coding language. 

The sophistication of HTML has brought us to today’s content management systems (CMS). In the past, web design/ programming was only possible for those savvy in HTML, however CMS’ provide a way to post and edit content onto a website without knowledge of HTML. Web developers built CMS’ using coding languages such as HTML and CSS as its foundation, as a way to simplify web design for everyone. Platforms like WordPress CMS, features an extremely advanced text editor, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG), which provides just what its title suggests, what you see is what you get. The WYSIWYG editor looks almost like Microsoft Word, and can be used by anyone just as easily as Microsoft. CMS software still uses the basic coding language developed decades ago, however, it functions as a tool that translates a web designer’s basic commands into the proper coding a computer can understand.