Roots of 'Program' Revisited

Today, it is a widely accepted thesis amongst historians and computer scientists that the modern notion of computer programs has its roots in the work of John von Neumann. This is symptomatic of a general tendency amongst academic computer scientists to search for the foundations of their field in logic and mathematics and, accordingly, also its historical roots. This is a distorted view of what happened: at best, the modern computer was driven by concerns of applied mathematics and developed by a collective of people (mathematicians, engineers, physicists, (human) computers, and so forth). We will not repeat why, in computing, history is reshaped in function of disciplinary identity.2,15 Instead, we will revisit the origins of the word "program" and argue for the need of a deeper historical understanding, not just for the sake of academic history, but for the sake of the field itself.