Kathleen Booth
Encyclopedia
Kathleen Booth is sometimes credited
with writing the first assembly language
and the design of the assembler and autocode (ARC and APE(X)C
) for the Birkbeck College computers, University of London.
The publications from 1947 which locate Booth (then Britten) in the timeline of computer programming languages were co-authored with Andrew D. Booth who in turn was primarily responsible for founding the Computer Science Department at Birkbeck. While Booth built the machines, Britten wrote the programming language.
"The smallest of the early British computer groups consisted of A. D. Booth and K. H. V. Britten (later Booth), based at Birkbeck College in the University of London (Booth 1975). That this group produced three machines, ARC,SEC, and APEXC, during the period 1947 to 1953 was a remarkable achievement, considering the size of the group (mainly just Booth and Britten) and the limited funds at its disposal. Although APEXC eventually led to the successful HEC series manufactured by the British Tabulating Machine Company, the small scale of the Birkbeck operation did not place it in the front rank of British computer activity.
Timeline of programming languages
This is a timeline of historically important programming languages.Legend-Pre-1950:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:- 2010s :-See also:* Programming language* Timeline of computing...
with writing the first assembly language
Assembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
and the design of the assembler and autocode (ARC and APE(X)C
APEXC
The APEC, or All Purpose Electronic Computer series was designed by Andrew Donald Booth at Birkbeck College, London in the early 1950s. His work on the APEC series was sponsored by the British Rayon Research Association. Although the naming conventions are slightly unclear, it seems the first...
) for the Birkbeck College computers, University of London.
The publications from 1947 which locate Booth (then Britten) in the timeline of computer programming languages were co-authored with Andrew D. Booth who in turn was primarily responsible for founding the Computer Science Department at Birkbeck. While Booth built the machines, Britten wrote the programming language.
"The smallest of the early British computer groups consisted of A. D. Booth and K. H. V. Britten (later Booth), based at Birkbeck College in the University of London (Booth 1975). That this group produced three machines, ARC,SEC, and APEXC, during the period 1947 to 1953 was a remarkable achievement, considering the size of the group (mainly just Booth and Britten) and the limited funds at its disposal. Although APEXC eventually led to the successful HEC series manufactured by the British Tabulating Machine Company, the small scale of the Birkbeck operation did not place it in the front rank of British computer activity.