Computers need programming languages to function. That’s just a simple fact of life. However, these languages didn’t just spring up out of nowhere. They were developed by people for explicit purposes.

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For the rest of the history of modern programming languages -- because C was really just the beginning! -- check out the infographic below. You can click it to zoom in.

John Backus, 82, whose development of the Fortran programming language in the 1950s changed how people interacted with computers and paved the way for modern software, died March 17 in Ashland, Ore., ...