Computing Pioneer Backus Dies

March 20, 2007 By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer

(AP) -- John Backus, whose development of the Fortran programming language in the 1950s changed how people interacted with computers and paved the way for modern software, has died. He was 82.Backus died Saturday in Ashland, Ore., according to IBM Corp., where he spent his career.

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