What was the name of the first widely used programming language?a. BASICb. COBOLc. Fortrand. Pascal

Break Down the Problem

1. Identify the different programming languages listed in the question.
2. Determine which language was the first to be widely used.

Relevant Concepts

• BASIC: Began in the 1960s, designed for beginners.
• COBOL: Developed in the 1950s, used mainly in business.
• FORTRAN: Developed in the 1950s for scientific and engineering calculations.
• Pascal: Developed in the late 1960s and became popular in the 1970s.

Analysis and Detail

• FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslation) was released in 1957 and is recognized as one of the oldest programming languages designed for scientific and engineering applications. It played a significant role in the development of computer programming and was widely adopted in various domains.
• COBOL (COmmon Business Oriented Language), also developed in the late 1950s, became popular for business applications but came after FORTRAN.
• BASIC gained popularity in the 1960s but was not the earliest.
• Pascal was developed later on and was popular primarily for teaching purposes.

Verify and Summarize

FORTRAN is a significant milestone in programming history and is recognized as the first widely used programming language.

Final Answer

The first widely used programming language was FORTRAN.