
What programming languages were used by the Soviet Union's space program? - mootothemax
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/145669/what-software-programming-languages-were-used-by-the-soviet-unions-space-progra
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mladenkovacevic
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...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_Spacecraft_%22Globus%22_IMP_navigation_instrument)
.. 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.

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

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jpwagner
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...](http://drakon-
editor.sourceforge.net/python/python.html#classes)). 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-S
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.

~~~
jpwagner
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?

~~~
DanI-S
Since the dawn of computing, we've seen great increases in programming
productivity as we've ramped up our level of abstraction. I'd assume that
visual programming is attractive as it appears to be the next rung on this
ladder. It may turn out to be a dead end, but people still try.

I'd argue that our next big jump in productivity is likely to come when we are
able to have a conversation with an AI about the desired function of a program
and have the AI write it for us. Whether visual programming will be a part of
this conversation remains to be seen.

~~~
gaius
No we haven't. What do we really have now that we didn't 30 years ago? A web
browser is just an IBM 3270 at the end of the day. The boost in productivity
is an illusion hidden behind ever more elaborate bells and whistles.

The boost in productivity will come when we stop reinventing the wheel every
few years.

~~~
gaius
This is why computing has stagnated for 30 years
<http://programmers.stackexchange.com/q/58186/6219>

Each new batch of programmers is so ignorant of the past that they spend all
their time reinventing it (usually, badly) instead of making any real
progress.

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farseer
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.

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

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

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timurlenk
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?

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

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blrblr
CCCP, I guess.

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trebuch3t
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>

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

~~~
lpgauth
Really curious to see the Erlang code generation...

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siculars
In Mother Russia language programs you.

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

