IP: Crisis for Air Traffic System More Passengers, More Delays

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

In addition, what the F.A.A. hails as modernization is the technological 
equivalent of a new coat of paint. The new mainframe computers that form 
the heart of the air traffic system are I.B.M. models built in the 1990's 
that have already gone out of production.
The F.A.A. could not buy I.B.M.'s newest machines because they would not 
run Jovial, the 1960's programming language used in the system's software.

Jovial, which stands for Jules Own Version of the International Algebraic 
Language, was created by a programmer, Jules I. Schwartz, 40 years ago as 
part of a contract for the Strategic Air Command. The F.A.A. plans to 
switch to a more modern computer language, but the transition "is very 
complex and it is going to take literally years," said William Shumann, an 
agency spokesman.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/090500air-traffic.html