From: "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne@...>
Date: 2007-07-22T08:59:59+09:00
Subject: Re: Taking the bull by its horns [was background]

M. Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
> As an aside, I worked at IBM during the transition from the 7000 series
> to System\360. There was never a 707, and wouldn't have been because of
> the airliner. The 704 was originally called the 703 but someone else
> grabbed that number and so IBM moved to 704, forcing the follow-on to
> the 702 into 705.

I have heard otherwise, that the 703 was an intended offline tape 
sorter/collator that never got to market.

> More notes from that period: in addition to FORTRAN, IBM developed a
> language called COMTRAN for business programming. It never caught on,
> though, mostly because Grace Murray Hopper and Univac and the Feds put
> all their weight behind COBOL.

...of which one of the most important sources was Commercial Translator 
(as far as I know, "COMTRAN" was never an official name, though it was 
widespread).

-- 
John W. Kennedy
"Those in the seat of power oft forget their failings and seek only the 
obeisance of others!  Thus is bad government born!  Hold in your heart 
that you and the people are one, human beings all, and good government 
shall arise of its own accord!  Such is the path of virtue!"
   -- Kazuo Koike.  "Lone Wolf and Cub:  Thirteen Strings" (tr. Dana Lewis)