Fortran is a crusty old programming language that was created back when computers were the size of refrigerators. It was designed for scientific and engineering applications, which apparently involved a lot of number crunching on giant machines with less memory than your average smartphone.

How to use it in a sentence

• I tried to read some legacy Fortran code at work today and it made me want to gouge my eyes out - I swear, it's like trying to decipher ancient hieroglyphics written by a drunken mathematician.

• My boss keeps threatening to make me maintain this ancient Fortran codebase that hasn't been touched since the Reagan administration - I think I'd rather quit and go work at a fast food joint.

If you actually want to learn more...

• For a fascinating look at the early days of Fortran and its role in the evolution of programming languages, check out The Roots of Lisp by Paul Graham.

• If you want to dive deep into the history and development of Lisp, a language that was created in part to address some of Fortran's limitations, read Paul Graham's essay The Evolution of Lisp.

• For an amusing firsthand account of John McCarthy presenting Lisp to a group of skeptical IBM engineers back in the day, read Doug McIlroy's recollection on Paul Graham's website.

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