What programming languages were used by the Soviet Union's space program?

http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/145669/what-software-programming-languages-were-used-by-the-soviet-unions-space-progra

by mootothemax • 14 years ago

271 39 14 years ago

programmers.stackexchange.com

mladenkovacevic• 14 years ago

I'm sorry I don't know but I recently came across this device which is I guess a complex mechnical trajectory tracker and I believe was the only device used to determine any corrections needed to steer the spacecraft: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_Spacecraft_%22Globus%22... .. It's definitely an interesting read.... and sorry again for not answering your question.

EDIT: So from what I understand this is how it worked: they would record their initial trajectory observations from the ground as the rocket was fired into space. They would then enter that data into the mechanical Globus or IMP which would track the rocket while it was circling around Earth. Russians could only visually track it while it was over their own space as they did not have bases all over the world. The Globus would make sure they weren't flying totally blind. It wasn't perfect, however, and as the spacecraft came back into their observable space they would have to make minor corrections on the Globus and then instructed the astronauts in the spacecraft which firing sequence to perform in order to stay on course.

aquarin• 14 years ago

Just a minor note: "astronauts" in Soviet Bloc are called "cosmonauts" (Космонавт).

sparknlaunch• 14 years ago

>> "This language is also intended for using by non-programmers."

Hardly surprising the Russians created their own programming language (doubt this is available via open source). However positive to see they aimed it towards non programmers.

Are there any Drakon programmers on HN?

myko• 14 years ago

Maybe not yet, but I'm sure there soon will be: http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/

lpgauth• 14 years ago

Really curious to see the Erlang code generation...

illicium• 14 years ago

As a kid, I had a book (Паронджанов В.Д., Занимательная информатика; Parondzhanov V.D., Zanimatel'naya Informatika; http://drakon.su/_media/biblioteka/parondzhanov_zanimatelnay...) that taught programming and logic concepts through Drakon.

exim• 14 years ago

Just to clarify, it is a common misconception in the "western" world to associate USSR with Russians. There were many different nations in USSR.

sigkill• 14 years ago

Probably similar to the confusion caused by "EU" and "eurozone".

trebuch3t• 14 years ago

It's not soviet but if you're interested in this you should also see all of the programs used in the Apollo and Gemeni missions:

http://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/links.html

jpwagner4• 14 years ago

Why do people care about "visual programming"?

The idea seems nice at first, but you always end up back at traditional programming (http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/python/python.html#clas...). To think that this is for non-programmers is silly.

I guess also, if it aids readability, why not just generate the charts from code, rather than the other way around?

DanI-S4• 14 years ago

Perhaps the idea that code can only be read and manipulated by an educated intellectual minority seemed a revoltingly bourgeoisie concept to those in charge at the time.

jpwagner4• 14 years ago

yours is the answer to "why do people care about non-programmers controlling machines" not "why do people care about visual programming".

how do you solve the issue you point out? isn't using symbols to represent something machine-readable what a programming language already is?

romaniv• 14 years ago

Most advanced visual programming systems I'm familiar with can't be properly read or manupulated by anyone except even tinier minority of people who specialize on working with the particular system.

run4yourlives2• 14 years ago

It's the same reason you use a mouse even though 99% of the things you do on a computer involve a keyboard.

People tend to be visual, especially when they are in unfamiliar territory - which everyone is in when they are learning.

"Visual Programming" helps with learning, thus comprehension.

jpwagner4• 14 years ago

  "Visual Programming" helps with learning, thus comprehension.

how do you know?

gaius3• 14 years ago

It's described as "2-dimensional" - I guess that means you set your calculation up as a spreadsheet, then it generates native code to run it at full speed.

dimitar• 14 years ago

Ladder programming is visual and is very widely used in PLCs.

Although some people dislike it a lot it is very nice for diagnostic reasons.

m_for_monkey• 14 years ago

> Why do people care about "visual programming"?

"Although the main purpose of DRAKON Editor is capturing and editing algorithmic knowledge, it can also be used to build programs." (http://drakon-editor.sourceforge.net/)

> I guess also, if it aids readability, why not just generate the charts from code, rather than the other way around?

Because it works like syntax highlighting. You don't ask "Why don't you write code black on white, and add colors later for reading aid?".

gordian• 14 years ago

I believe the primary language used was BORAT. Sorry, couldn't resist.

farseer• 14 years ago

Most soviet equipment I have seen (1980-1991) was programmed using plain Assembly or C. The Soviet Union manufactured its own version of the 8086 processor that worked with all popular compilers of that time. However I don't know about the 1970s era.

vl• 14 years ago

In late 80es and early 90es (and probably still) they used Modula 2 for programming satellites and such.

bjornbm• 14 years ago

Why, Lisp of course: http://twitpic.com/60plzm/full

(I don't have anything but that Soviet era mosaic to back it up with.)

siculars• 14 years ago

In Mother Russia language programs you.

blrblr• 14 years ago

CCCP, I guess.

timurlenk• 14 years ago

While this may be off topic, i am actually a lot more interested how they executed the project management part of the whole program.

The project management techniques in use today seem like they have been largely developed in the US aeronautics industry.

The soviet space program was inteed a complex task requiring coordination with large teams in different areas of development. Is anybody aware how they organize that? is the methodology documented somewhere?

What programming languages were used by the Soviet Union's space program?

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