▶

Running FORTRAN II on a 1959 IBM 1401

CuriousMarc · Demo · 24 min · 2018 · YouTube title: The IBM 1401 compiles and runs FORTRAN II
Why it's here

Passed around in computing-history threads as a charming example of vintage hardware being coaxed into running FORTRAN.

What it covers

CuriousMarc and colleagues at the Computer History Museum try to compile and run a FORTRAN II program on a 1959 IBM 1401. The machine has only 16k of memory and a CPU not meant for scientific work, so success is far from guaranteed.