The First Computer Programmer of Bangladesh-Hanif Uddin mia

As technology becomes more and more a part of our lives and we get to see the wonders that can bee brought about by programming, there is one Bengali who stayed in the shadow with his monumental legacy – Md. Hanif Uddin Mia, first ever programmer of Bangladesh. Now millennials are getting to know him after eight years since his demise.

This illustrious personality has been introduced for the first time in front of the public at this year’s Bangladesh ICT Expo. ICT Department and Bangladesh Computer Society (BCS) has jointly honored this towering figure posthumously. Son of a schoolteacher, Hanif Uddin was born on 1st November 1929 and grew up in the village of Hulhulia, surrounded by the famous Chalan Beel of Natore. Eldest of two brothers and one sister,Hanif Uddin grew up in a solvent household. Despite that, he had to stay as sublet for higher education. Hanif Uddin’s academic training was in computer science and numerical mathematics. But his interest in learning was as diverse as the knowledge itself, including arts and literature. He could speak Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, German and Russian in addition to Bangla and English. He passed his matriculation in 1946 from Calcutta University and went on to graduate from Dhaka University in 1948 with a first class in the ISC exam. The same year he earned his BSc with first class and distinction.

In 1952, he graduated MSc in Applied Mathematics with a first class, placing first in his class and earning a gold medal. He attended the Institute of Information Theory and Automation in Prague, of then Czechoslovakia and received training on Analogue Computer Technique and Digital Computer Programming in 1960. He received further training in System Analysis, Numerical Mathematics, Advanced Computer Programming and Operation Research for MIT. After receiving his degree in Prague, Hanif Uddin came back home. Meanwhile in 1964, a second generation digital mainframe computer was installed at the then East Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission established in what is now the Teacher-Student Center of Dhaka University. The commission was looking for qualified people who would be able to install the computer after it was imported. That is when Hanif Uddin got his big break. In time he became the director of Computer Service Division of Bangladesh Atomic Commission. In 1975, he received training on Operating System and System Programming at IBM Research Center in London.

Later from 1975 till the end of the decade, he worked as a System Analyst at International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), working on analysis, design, and software implementation of computer application program. He assisted scientists, engineers and researchers with data analysis, program development, and training on an IBM1620 mainframe. Hanif Uddin also taught Mathematics as a visiting professor at Dhaka University. Because of his philanthropic initiative, more than a hundred students went on to become Engineers. In 2000, he donated desktop computers to Hulhulia High School. Hanif Uddin Mia passed away on 11th March 2007. He had been teaching Mathematics and Computer Science till his death. He was also one of the co-founders of Bangladesh Mathematics Society.