The origins of computer programming
Brian Randell · IEEE Annals of the History of Computing · 1994
This article describes some of the early developments that can now be viewed as steps toward the development of program control and the modern concept of a stored program. In particular, it discusses early automatic devices, Babbage's contributions set against a background of the technology of his day, the contributions of some of his direct successors, and the genesis of the stored-program idea.>