# What is the greatest (most influential, whatever) computer program ever written? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 5, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575 "2019-03-05T15:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/101 "2019-03-08T01:18:18Z")
Visi-calc started the PC revolution. I was using email by 1984, so whatever program that was was extremely influential. Win-95 was a useful OS, but it was still based on DOS with a GUI running on top. But XP was a totally new OS (which, however, had to include code to run DOS-based programs). My son worked in the NT group (he programmed the interfaces with all the third party hardware). It really was a new beginning and I am going to go with that. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/102 "2019-03-08T02:21:17Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > COBOL on the other hand has no descendants. Which still could be the most influential if every other language basically started with “whatever we do, let’s not model it after COBOL!” ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/103 "2019-03-08T02:23:29Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > COBOL got used a lot, for sure, but had no influence on the development of computers and computer science except as a bad example. I just got to this post, DOH! And I thought my previous post was pretty funny, oh well. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/104 "2019-03-08T02:26:12Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The major influence of COBOL was the lesson in how not to design a computer language. Wow, my post really was unoriginal. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/105 "2019-03-08T03:15:44Z")
emacs, le duh ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/106 "2019-03-08T03:31:22Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > In the milieu of academic computer science departments, COBOL was frequently the butt of jokes and ridicule. I was a computer science major at the University of Michigan, class of '79. They had “mini courses” in several languages, and I took SNOBOL, 360 Assembler, and LISP. I told my counselor I wanted to take the COBOL course but it wasn’t offered that semester. He said, “We list it, but we \*never \*offer it. Don’t take COBOL. If you really want to take COBOL, I think they teach in the business school. But don’t.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/107 "2019-03-08T03:53:09Z")
Seems to be two camps forming here between those who measure “influence” by users affected, others by technical attainments. Sometimes we have a lucky merger, such as Mosaic, sometimes it’s more one than the other. In the COBOL/FORTRAN debate, I see Shodan’s side - people who knew nothing about computers held their products in their hands every time they received corporate correspondence, this made possible as many businesses used COBOL. But I understand the other side too - regardless of how many used it, COBOL was an evolutionary dead-end as far as languages go, and its long-term influence will eventually wane as its installed user base wanes. And people held FORTRAN-generated bills in their hands too. I would put neither one @ #1, but when I do compile a list of the top programs (imho) from all these suggestions, the higher ranked language will be… well, just wait. 😉 And remember - since one of the “criteria” was “I used this one a lot in my life”, there are really no wrong answers here. Maybe more correct answers, but no wrong answers. Except Windows ME. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/108 "2019-03-08T13:53:38Z")
I think the SABRE system, founded by American Airlines in 1960, and now handling 100,000 customer transactions every second, is worth a mention. There are probably a fair number of these examples of vast corporate software “packages” which run complicated processes which we are completely unaware. Like the software needed to run a, say, an automobile factory probably hasn’t been mentioned here, but I would not be surprised if many auto manufacturers use variants of the same system. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/109 "2019-03-08T16:20:07Z")
With Unix kernel, utilities, shells and C compiler bundled together any other nomination seems like a joke! … (by my criterion). > [@JohnT](#): > > … Like the software needed to run a, say, an automobile factory probably hasn’t been mentioned here, but I would not be surprised if many auto manufacturers use variants of the same system. When someone starts the _Worst computer program ever_ thread, there’s an auto factory system I’ll nominate! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/110 "2019-03-08T21:22:31Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I think the SABRE system, founded by American Airlines in 1960, and now handling 100,000 customer transactions every second, is worth a mention. Probably worth a mention in its own right because of its importance to airline travel, but also, I believe that airline reservation systems like SABRE pioneered some of the basic concepts underlying packet switching. I’m a little shaky on the details so take this with a dash or two of salt, but I believe that for many years SABRE used what was essentially a datagram protocol called Airline Line Control (ALC). “Datagram” means that information packets were sent independently and with no acknowledgments between the airline terminal equipment and the airline host systems, mainly because each packet contained a complete transaction and if it was lost, it would be obvious to the terminal operator and it could just be manually re-sent. Technically this would be called a connectionless protocol, whereas a connection-oriented one operated with additional handshaking over a session-based virtual circuit. Packet switching, which provided for both, allowed the efficient use of long-distance leased lines without having to have expensive physical circuits to each location, and later formed the basis of commercial packet-switching services based on the ISO X.25 packet-switching protocol, and indeed formed the basis of the network layer of all important future networking protocols. A network router is essentially a packet switch (although X.25 was a very specific paradigm that encompassed physical, data link, and network layers; SABRE itself eventually migrated its proprietary ALC layer over to X.25). So in some ways SABRE was the granddaddy of some important modern networking concepts. SABRE was so important that the city of Buffalo eventually named its NHL hockey team after it.\* - I should be allowed to just make shit up every once in while. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/111 "2019-03-08T21:33:23Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > emacs, le duh When the vi people come charging in, I’ve got your back. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/112 "2019-03-08T21:36:22Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I think the SABRE system, founded by American Airlines in 1960, and now handling 100,000 customer transactions every second, is worth a mention. > > There are probably a fair number of these examples of vast corporate software “packages” which run complicated processes which we are completely unaware. Like the software needed to run a, say, an automobile factory probably hasn’t been mentioned here, but I would not be surprised if many auto manufacturers use variants of the same system. And of something even less obvious, that microprocessor and computer they use to run SABRE was almost certainly designed using EDA software written in C. And maybe C++ now. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/113 "2019-03-08T21:38:48Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Wow, my post really was unoriginal. Well, COBOL was nothing if not wordy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/114 "2019-03-08T23:39:27Z")
The mouse, or whatever software allows the mouse to work. Apparently, its inventor never recognized its potential and failed to copyright it. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/115 "2019-03-09T00:19:58Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > The mouse, or whatever software allows the mouse to work. Apparently, its inventor never recognized its potential and failed to copyright it. There’s no particular single piece of software that allows a mouse to work. Not sure where you got this idea, I’m sure there are numerous copyrighted mouse drivers for each of the many different types of mouse that have been made. One early mouse used in the Mother of All Demos mentioned above was patented but the patent expired before the devices came into common use, and several different technologies have been used to implement the devices. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/116 "2019-03-09T03:33:45Z")
And you don’t do anything to get copyright other than write something down. The copyright is attached as soon as you write the code. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/117 "2019-03-09T12:29:26Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > And you don’t do anything to get copyright other than write something down. The copyright is attached as soon as you write the code. I was referring to this guy: [Mouse inventor 'never made money' - BBC News](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-23176857/mouse-inventor-never-made-money) Perhaps it doesn’t qualify based on the OP criteria, since the invention is more hardware than software? ETA: apologies, the article clearly mentions a patent and license ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/118 "2019-03-09T17:24:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I was in 3 CS departments during my academic career, which was during the prime time of COBOL and I don’t think any of them taught a COBOL class, and if any of the professors knew COBOL they were ashamed to admit it. The local community college offered COBOL classes, but in its Data Processing department, which was entirely separate (and in a different building, on a different computer) from the CS department, that offered only FORTRAN. When I went to Cal in the early 1980s, there was a list of what computers could handle what languages; COBOL, along with BASIC and ALGOL, were listed, but the answer was, “None.” > [@K364](#): > > Although I have previously nominated Visicalc and still stand by it, the different versions of Windows are interesting: versions 1 and 2 were curiosities and didn’t sell at all. Version 3.0 (quickly superseded by 3.1) were monsters that changed personal computing. After that, every second version was an impressive advance. For example, Win95 they tried a big step and fell on their face but Win98 fixed it and was great. Same for What was the first one that was a dedicated OS? Windows 2, which I think was actually called “Windows 386,” was not only not standalone (you have to start it from a DOS prompt, and when it crashed, it returned you to the prompt), but it did not support color icons, and I think that was still when you couldn’t resize the windows (I am guessing because somebody was afraid of a lawsuit by Apple); you could have one large window, two side-by-side, two top-and-bottom, or four one-in-each-corner windows. > [@JohnT](#): > > I think the SABRE system, founded by American Airlines in 1960, and now handling 100,000 customer transactions every second, is worth a mention. Is that still around? I think one reason SABRE was popular was, one of the first systems that people could use directly was a simplified, non-windowed version on CompuServe called Eaasy SABRE (two As in “Eaasy,” for American Airlines). I think the first time I used it was in late 1991, to book a flight to Australia in January 1992. I also remember that SABRE was still using the “fixed size windows” from pre-3.0 Windows even after versions of Windows where the windows could be resized and overlap had been released. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/119 "2019-03-10T03:35:34Z")
It’s amusing to remember the long-standing criticism of unix was that unix wasn’t a real operating system, was just a toy etc. because (mostly) it didn’t provide proper isolation and virtualization. It’s easy to see where the name-calling about Windows 95/98 came from 🙂 > [@wolfpup](#): > > “Ridiculous”? > > Caldera claims that, by monitoring operations on a second PC, it found there was far more than the odd handshake going on between Microsoft’s own MS-Dos and the Windows 95 user interface. It detected thousands of calls, and claims this shows that Windows 9x is still basically a “graphical interface sitting on a Dos operating system”. > [Computing - The UK's leading source for the analysis of business technology](https://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/1996865/cebit-caldera-windows-dr-dos-denying-ms-claims) > > Now granted, there are nuanced aspects to this and there was controversy about it. IBM, pushing OS/2 at the time, loved to refer to Windows as a “DOS enhancer” or something to that effect. A bit of hyperbole, but note the above quote. > > But here is the point. Notwithstanding the protected mode offered by the 386 and newer class processors, Windows 9x fell far short of supporting their theoretical capabilities: > Both NT Workstation and Windows 95 are 32-bit operating systems for the desktop. This means, in theory at least, they should be free from the constraints that have plagued MS-DOS and Windows systems for over a decade. In theory, the 640KB memory limit should vanish; the problems with handling protected-mode memory should disappear; and device drivers shouldn’t have to compete for scarce resources. In theory! > > **In reality, only NT Workstation actually delivers on the promise of true 32-bit operations. Windows 95 delivers part of the promise, but deep down inside, MS-DOS still lurks.** Those memories of days past are well hidden, which is why Windows 95 can give you long file names and why it can handle 32-bit device drivers. What it doesn’t give you is the robust protection against problem software that NT Workstation can deliver, and it doesn’t give you the rich networking environment. > [Windows 95 vs. Windows NT Workstation | ITPro Today: IT News, How-Tos, Trends, Case Studies, Career Tips, More](https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-95-vs-windows-nt-workstation) > > See also [this comparison](https://kb.iu.edu/d/advu): “System completely protected from errant Win16 and Win32 applications?” – Windows NT = YES, Windows 95 = NO. > > I know this very well since my son was and remains an avid gamer, and back in the Windows 95 days, for many or maybe even most games, a total system crash once in a while was pretty much routine. It sort of became a question of “when”, not “if”. > > The problem went away, totally and forever, with the advent of Windows XP. For the first time, no user-level program could ever affect the OS or other programs. For other reasons, like the standardized use of DirectX, games inherently became more stable as well. For gamers, like for everybody else, Windows XP with its NT kernel was Da Bomb. Its introduction into the consumer market was revolutionary! The problem is, you write that and then people think it means this: > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > . > Win-95 was a useful OS, but it was still based on DOS with a GUI running on top. Now, Hari Seldon goes on to write this > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > But XP was a totally new OS (which, however, had to include code to run DOS-based programs). My son worked in the NT group (he programmed the interfaces with all the third party hardware). It really was a new beginning and I am going to go with that. Which is true, and a valid contribution to the discussion 🙂 But it’s got that wrong bit in it: “DOS with a GUI running on top”. Win 95, for all it’s problems, for all it’s calls into 16bit drivers, wasn’t “a GUI” and didn’t run “on top of” DOS. And of course even though it provided a buggy virtual 16 bit machine for DOS programs, and a buggy virtual 32 bit machine with 16 bit memory allocation for Windows programs, even though it connected to 8 bit devices like the keyboard and some old disk drive controllers, it was fundamentally not DOS, not on top of DOS and fundamentally a new 32 bit OS that provided buggy virtualization of the DOS and Win3.x environments. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/120 "2019-03-10T03:40:17Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > . > Is that still around? I think one reason SABRE was popular was, one of the first systems that people could use directly was a simplified, non-windowed version on > CompuServe called Eaasy SABRE (two As in “Eaasy,” for American Airlines). I think the first time I used it was in late 1991, to book a flight to Australia in January 1992. SABRE was enormously influential and successful when it was used only on dedicated terminals used only by professionals. If that was all it ever was, it would still be remembered for reforming the industry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575.md?page=7)