Elizabeth Rather facts for kids

Elizabeth "Bess" D. Rather (born 1940) is a very important computer scientist. She helped create a special computer language called Forth. She is known as one of the top experts in this language. Bess also helped start a company called FORTH, Inc.

How Bess Rather Discovered Forth

Bess Rather first learned about the Forth programming language while studying at the University of Arizona. At the same time, she was working part-time for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). Her job was to rewrite some computer systems that were already using Forth. She was supposed to change them to a different language called FORTRAN.

But as she worked, Bess realized how powerful and useful Forth was! She was so impressed that she decided to leave the university. Instead, she chose to work full-time for NRAO and the Kitt Peak National Observatory. There, she wrote the very first manual for Forth. She also started telling other scientists about how great the language was.

Leading FORTH, Inc.

In 1973, Bess Rather teamed up with Charles Moore to start their own company, FORTH, Inc. Since then, Bess has become a true master of the Forth language. She is one of its biggest supporters. She has written several books about Forth and has taught many training classes on how to use it.

From 1980 to 2006, Bess was the President of FORTH, Inc. Their main office was located in the Los Angeles area. She also played a big role in making Forth an official standard. From 1986 to 1994, she led a special committee. This committee created the ANSI Standard (X3.215-1994) for the Forth programming language. This standard helps make sure Forth works the same way everywhere.

Later Life and Legacy

In 2006, Bess Rather retired. She now lives in Hawaii. Even though she is retired, she still sometimes writes and teaches about Forth. Her work has greatly helped the world of computer programming.