What Is the Oldest Computer Program Still in Use?

Comments (2)

jleyank · 21h ago

It's probably one of the early editors, unless Ship of Theseus has kicked in to say the nth total rewrite makes it a different program. EMACS for sure, but given the strength of the editor religious wars, something earlier is out there.

It's possible there's a business program with lost source code lurking out there as well, as that's been the rumour as to why backwards compatibility has been maintained in the IBM family.

tocs3 · 21h ago

Emacs is 1970s vintage and the article has it beat with a 1958 DOD program "dubbed Mechanization of Contract Administration Services, or MOCAS". Then they go to mention a company in Conroe TX that "To this day it relies on a 1948 IBM 402 punchcard system for inventory and accounting along with an IBM 83 sorter and IBM 129 keypunch,".

This article is from 2015 so things might have changed. The punchcard entry makes me wonder if there are any old puncard looms around still in use (even if for demonstration purposes).

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What Is the Oldest Computer Program Still in Use?

Comments (2)