The approach in 1977 was that the problems we address with computer programs were static. It was up to the system developers to understand the problems well enough to learn their requirements and then implement the requirements as code. Writing the code was the last thing you did, after the problem was entirely understood, documented, flowcharted, signed off by the client, etc.
Now we understand that the problems often change as the code is developed, or in response to the code we develop. Priorities and requirements change as the work proceeds. We start writing code early, solving small parts of the problem, and building up a solution almost organically, the way a tree will grow around obstacles in its pursuit of sunlight.
The name Fortran is a contraction of "Formula Translation" it was developed to be usable by mathematicians and scientists. COBOL is another language that looks very wordy, as it was developed to be used by businesspeople.
Now we understand that the problems often change as the code is developed, or in response to the code we develop. Priorities and requirements change as the work proceeds. We start writing code early, solving small parts of the problem, and building up a solution almost organically, the way a tree will grow around obstacles in its pursuit of sunlight.
The name Fortran is a contraction of "Formula Translation" it was developed to be usable by mathematicians and scientists. COBOL is another language that looks very wordy, as it was developed to be used by businesspeople.