Language is one of the central metaphors around which the discipline of computer science has been built. The language metaphor entered modern computing as part of a cybernetic discourse, but during the second half of the 1950s acquired a more abstract meaning, closely related to the formal languages of logic and linguistics. The article argues that this transformation was related to the appearance of the commercial computer in the mid-1950s. Managers of computing installations and specialists on computer programming in academic computer centers, confronted with an increasing variety of machines, called for the creation of “common” or “universal languages” to enable the migration of computer code from machine to machine. Finally, the article shows how the idea of a universal language was a decisive step in the emergence of programming languages, in the recognition of computer programming as a proper field of knowledge, and eventually in the way we think of the computer.
The spread of the modern computer is assumed to have been a smooth process of technology transfer. This view relies on an assessment of the open circulation of knowledge ensured by the US and British governments in the early post-war years. This article presents new historical evidence that question this view. At the centre of the article lies the ill-fated establishment of the UNESCO International Computation Centre. The project was initially conceived in 1946 to provide advanced computation capabilities to scientists of all nations. It soon became a prize sought by Western European countries like The Netherlands and Italy seeking to speed up their own national research programs. Nonetheless, as the article explains, the US government's limitations on the research function of the future centre resulted in the withdrawal of European support for the project. These limitations illustrate the extent to which US foreign science policy could operate as (stealth) industrial policy to secure a competitive technological advantage and the prospects of US manufacturers in a future European market.
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