FORTRAN, short for "Formula Translation," is one of the oldest programming languages, developed in the 1950s for scientific and engineering calculations. It allows programmers to write complex mathematical formulas in a way that is easy to understand and execute on computers. This makes it particularly popular in fields like physics, chemistry, and engineering, where precise calculations are essential. Over the years, FORTRAN has evolved, with several versions released, including FORTRAN 77 and FORTRAN 90. Despite the emergence of newer programming languages, FORTRAN remains in use today, especially in high-performance computing and legacy systems, due to its efficiency in handling numerical data.