Information Systems and Computer Applications CLEP Prep Practice Exam

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Prepare for the CLEP Information Systems & Computer Applications Exam with flashcards and multiple-choice questions. Each question comes with hints and explanations to help you succeed. Master the content and pass your exam!

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What type of programming language was Fortran first developed in?

Assembly language
C language
BASIC language
Machine language

The correct answer is: Machine language

Fortran, which is short for "Formula Translation", was first developed in 1957 by a group of IBM programmers. It was one of the earliest high-level programming languages and was specifically designed for scientific and engineering applications. Assembly language (A) was the first low-level programming language, which was used prior to high-level languages like Fortran. C language (B) and BASIC language (C) were developed after Fortran and are also high-level languages, but they were not the first programming languages. Machine language (D) is the most basic and primitive form of programming language, which directly corresponds to instructions executed by a computer's central processing unit (CPU). Therefore, Fortran was not developed in machine language because it is a high-level language.