[alexk7]

The original joke is "The determined Real Programmer can write FORTRAN programs in any language." It's from an essay written by Ed Post titled "Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal". It's before BASIC :)

[Someone]

Nitpick: it can't be from "before BASIC" if it mentions Pascal. BASIC is older than Pascal (1964 vs 1970, according to Wikipedia)

Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Programmers_Don't_Use_Pasc... (with links to the essay; look at the email address. That alone shows that we are talking of a real programmer) says it's from 1983.