Mumps

Mumps

Mumps is a programming language used primarily in medical and financial information systems.

The back server for VistA the medical information system is written in Mumps.

Mumps is an old language. It was born in the days when a 16-bit address space was the state of the art in minicomputers. It shows its age. I has been called obsolete, ugly, ... It is not a fashionable language.

Most folks don't get past a negative initial impression and appreciate its strengths. The sample code at the bottom of the Mumps Wikipedia article is pretty scary!

Mumps programmers are mostly old and gray haired, retiring and becoming a scarce resource.

The Vista Expertise Network is teaching Mumps and beginning a mentorship program pairing new Mumps programmers with retired Mumps experts.

For the OLPC WorldVistA project we are using the open source GT.M Mumps compiler.