
Why was the first compiler written before the first interpreter? - srikar
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/11/why-was-the-first-compiler-written-before-the-first-interpreter/
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drallison
Grace Murray Hopper's A-0 compiler was not a "compiler" in the modern sense of
the word. LISP was not the first interpreter. Most early programming systems
used a mix of compilation to hardware machine code and interpretation.
Emulation, a variety of interpretation, was used to allow old code to run on
newer, faster machines. There is a large and helpful literature on the history
of programming languages. Wikipedia has useful condensed information.

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simonblack
"the infamous Altair 8800"

Seeing that this was the machine that fired up the "home computer" revolution
and was a direct ancestor to the everyday PC, I can't understand the
'infamous' epithet. In my opinion, that line should read "the famous Altair
8800".

