Lois Haibt facts for kids

Lois B. Mitchell Haibt (born 1934) is an American computer scientist. She is famous for being part of a small team at IBM. This team created FORTRAN, which was the first really successful "high-level" programming language. Think of a programming language as a special set of instructions that computers can understand. Lois Haibt is known as an early pioneer, meaning she was one of the first important people in computer science.

Early Life and Education

Lois Haibt loved mathematics. She studied it at Vassar College, a well-known school. She even received a special scholarship to help pay for her studies. In 1955, she earned her bachelor's degree. During her summers while at college, Lois worked at Bell Laboratories. This was a big research company.

Starting a Career at IBM

Right after college, Lois Haibt started working at IBM. She joined a special team of ten young people. This team had different backgrounds, but they all shared a strong connection to mathematics. Lois was the only woman on this important team.

The team's main goal was to create a new programming language. Lois found the work exciting and challenging. She said that everyone on the team worked well together. They were not afraid to ask questions or share their ideas. They were all learning new things together.

The FORTRAN team worked very unusual hours. They often worked at night so they could have full access to the IBM 704 computer. This computer was located at IBM's main office in New York City. Sometimes, they would even rent hotel rooms nearby to sleep during the day. This way, they could keep working on their project at night.

In 1957, Lois Haibt also attended Columbia University. She is a member of the Mathematical Association of America. This is a group for people who love and study mathematics.

Creating FORTRAN

The IBM team spent almost three years developing FORTRAN. This new programming language completely changed how people gave instructions to computers. It made it much easier for people to "talk" to computers.

Lois Haibt had a very important role in the FORTRAN project. She was in charge of "section four." Her job was to figure out how different parts of the computer program would run. She estimated how often certain parts of the program would be used. To do this, she used a special method called Monte Carlo methods. This method uses statistics and random numbers to solve problems.

Lois also created the first "syntactic analyzer" for math expressions. Think of a syntactic analyzer as a tool that checks if your computer instructions are written correctly. It makes sure the computer can understand them. She planned and programmed this entire section herself.

In 1956, Lois was also part of a team that wrote the first instruction manual for FORTRAN. This manual helped other people learn how to use the new language.

Personal Life

Lois Haibt was married to Luther Haibt. He was also a computer expert who worked at IBM. They lived in New York state for most of their lives. Lois has a daughter named Carolyn. Carolyn also studied mathematics and earned a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lois enjoys hobbies like decorating her home and reading books.

Works and Contributions

Lois Haibt helped write important papers about FORTRAN. These papers explained how the new language worked.

• Original Paper on FORTRAN from 1957
• Casting Petri Nets into Programs, September 1983

See also

In Spanish: Lois Haibt para niños

• List of prominent pioneers in computer science