Phillips, Charles John, 1908-

Computer programming languages expert and consultant.

From the description of Charles A. Phillips papers, 1959-1985. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 63288464

Charles A. Phillips began working with computers at the Treasury, and later at the State Department after World War II. In the 1950s, he transferred to the Defense Department where he became a data systems languages expert. Phillips left government service in 1962 to become the first leader of the Data Processing Group of the Business Equipment Manufacturers Association from 1962 to 1972. In 1972 he joined the accounting firm of Lybrand, Ross Borthers, and Montgomery as director of management consulting services. In 1976 he returned to the Computer and Business Equipment Association as a consultant to write a history of the computer industry.

Phillips was active in the standardization of the computing industry, especially programming languages. He was the first chairman of the executive committee of the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL), which initiated the development of COBOL.

From the guide to the Charles A. Phillips papers., 1959-1985, (University of Minnesota Libraries. Charles Babbage Institute. [cbi])