AIMACO is an acronym for AIr MAterial COmpiler. It began around 1959 as the definition of a

high level programming language In computer science, a high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer. In contrast to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language ''elements'', be easier to u ...

influenced by the

FLOW-MATIC FLOW-MATIC, originally known as B-0 (Business Language version 0), was the first English-like data processing language. It was developed for the UNIVAC I at Remington Rand under Grace Hopper from 1955 to 1959, and helped shape the development of CO ...

language, developed by

UNIVAC UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...

, and the

COMTRAN COMTRAN (COMmercial TRANslator) is an early programming language developed at IBM. It was intended as the business programming equivalent of the scientific programming language FORTRAN (FORmula TRANslator). It served as one of the forerunners ...

(COMmercial TRANslator) programming language, developed by IBM. AIMACO, along with FLOW-MATIC and COMTRAN, were precursors to the

COBOL COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily ...

programming language and influenced its development. A committee chaired by a representative of AMC (the Air Material Command, predecessor to the

Air Force Materiel Command Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) is a major command ( MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF). AFMC was created on July 1, 1992, through the amalgamation of the former Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) and the former Air Force Systems Co ...

) and composed of industry representatives from IBM and

United States Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

, as well as members of AMC Programming Services, developed the draft AIMACO language definition. Even though the word "compiler" was part of its name, no compiler was ever written for it; although at least two were specified or designed.Hopper, Grace (1978). Keynote Address,
History of Programming Languages I
'. ACM. pp. 16–20. The original intention of AMC was that all programming for AMC systems worldwide would be written in AIMACO and compiled on a UNIVAC in AMC headquarters at

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur W ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...

. This would be for software whether it was intended to operate on UNIVAC or IBM computers. An alternative compiler was designed by AMC Programming Services persons to compile systems on IBM computers for operation on IBM computers.

References

Computer languages Wright-Patterson Air Force Base {{compu-lang-stub