The Sort Merge Generator was an application developed by Betty Holberton in 1951 for the Univac I and is one of the first examples of using a computer to create a computer program. The input to the application was a specification of files and the kind of sort and merge operations to use, and the output would be machine code for performing the specification.[1]
Holberton, F.E. "Application of Automatic Coding to Logical Processes". Symposium Automatic Programming for DigitalComputers, Office of Naval Research, Dept. of the Navy, Oct. 1954, pp.34-39.
Hopper, Grace. "Automatic Coding for Digital Computers". High Speed Computer Conference (Louisiana State University) February 1995. Remington Rand.
Notes
^Hopper, Grace. "Keynote Address". Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN History of Programming Languages (HOPL) conference.