Editing WATFIV (section)

===WATFIV===
As a result of proposals from the [[SHARE (computing)|SHARE]] user group Fortran committee and others, a new version called WATFIV was produced in 1968.  WATFIV introduced new features such as CHARACTER variables and direct-access input-output.  The [[Association for Computing Machinery]]  presented Paul Cress and Paul Dirksen the [[Grace Murray Hopper Award]] for contributions to the WATFOR and WATFIV projects in 1972.<ref>{{cite web |title= 1972 – Paul H. Cress |work= Grace Murray Hopper Award |publisher= [[Association for Computing Machinery]] |url= http://awards.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=4117320&srt=all&aw=145&ao=GMHOPPER |access-date= April 5, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120504100839/http://awards.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=4117320&srt=all&aw=145&ao=GMHOPPER |archive-date= May 4, 2012 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>   The WATFIV compiler was included in the DATAPRO Honour Roll for 1975 and 1976.
People involved with maintenance and enhancement included Bernie Murphy, Martin Wiseman and Yvonne Johnson.

WATFIV was pronounced as "WHAT FIVE", but, as was realized at the time, could also (almost) still be pronounced as "WHAT FOR", as in WAT-F-IV (Waterloo Fortran IV).

Universities and corporations used these compilers and a number of other software products have been developed in the WATFOR tradition.
For example, a version for the [[COBOL]] programming language is called [[WATBOL]].<ref>{{cite web |title= WATBOL  |author1=R. J. Hurdal |author2=W.R. Milne |author3=C.R. Zarnke |publisher= University of Waterloo |year= 1972 |url= http://csg.uwaterloo.ca/sdtp/watbol.html |access-date= April 5, 2011 }}</ref><ref name=UWaterloo40Years1972>
{{cite news 
| url         = https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/40th/Chronology/1972.shtml
| title       = Chronology - 1970s: The Evolution of The University of Waterloo Continues -- 1972
| publisher   = [[University of Waterloo]] 
| access-date  = 2012-12-17
| quote       = In 1969 and 1970, the WATBOL compiler was completed. The WATBOL compiler for the COBOL programming language had speed and error diagnostics similar to the WATFOR compilers for FORTRAN. 
}}
</ref><ref name=ParentsOfInvention>
{{cite book
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=28qmcQCVFcYC&q=WATBOL+waterloo&pg=PA10
| title       = Parents of Invention: The Development of Library Automation Systems in the Late 20th Century: The Development of Library Automation Systems in the Late 20th Century
| publisher   = [[ABC-CLIO]]
| author      = Christopher Brown-Syed
| year        = 2011
| page        = 10
| isbn        = 9781591587910
| access-date  = 2012-12-17
| quote       = During the 1970s, the University of Waterloo, located in southern Ontario, Canada, was almost as synonymous with computing as MIT or Berkeley.  It had developed extensions to the popular general-purpose Fortran programming language called WATFOR and WATFIV and its own version of the equally popular business computing language COBOL, called WATBOL.
}}
</ref>
[[Daniel D. McCracken]] said "it is no exaggeration to suggest that WATFOR revolutionized the use of computers in education."<ref>{{cite book |author= Daniel D. McCracken |title=A guide to Fortran IV programming |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aNhWAAAAMAAJ |year=1972 |page=253 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-58281-6 |author-link=Daniel D. McCracken }}</ref>  At one point, more than 3,000 mini and mainframe computer licenses and over 100,000 microcomputer licenses were held worldwide for this family of software products.