APA Dictionary of Psychology

n. FOR(mula) TRAN(slation) (language): the oldest high-level computer programming language still in use, originally developed at IBM in the late 1950s. Its primary application is the intensive mathematical modeling and problem solving needed for supercomputing in areas such as weather and climate modeling, computational physics, and plant and animal breeding. [created by U.S. computer scientist John Backus (1924–2007) and colleagues]