Autocoder
{{Short description|Computer assembler}}
{{Distinguish|Autoencoder}}
{{About|the IBM Autocoder assemblers|the generic term used in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s for a family of "simplified coding systems"|Autocode}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020|cs1-dates=y}}
Autocoder is any of a group of assemblers for a number of IBM computers of the 1950s and 1960s.
The first Autocoders appear to have been the earliest assemblers to provide a macro facility.Solomon 1993, p. 8.
Terminology
Both autocoder, and the unrelated autocode, a term of the same era used in the UK for languages of a higher level, derive from the phrase automatic coding. This referred generally to programs which eased the burden of producing the numeric machine language codes of programs.Hopper 1955. "Autocoding" is seen occasionally, and can refer to any kind of programming system. In some circles "autocoder" could be used generically to refer to what is now called a macro-assembler.For an example see Allen 1981, p. 540.
History
The first Autocoders were released in 1955 for the IBM 702,{{cite book |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1956 |date=1957 |publisher=Copyright Office, Library of Congress |page=305 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxshAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA305 |accessdate=Aug 23, 2019}} and in 1956 for the almost compatible IBM 705.{{cite manual
| title = 705 autocoder system - manual of information
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = 22-6726-1
| edition = Second
| date = February 1957
| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/705/22-6726-1_autocoder_Feb57.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
They were designed by Roy Goldfinger who earlier had worked on New York University's (NYU) NYAP assembler.Goldfinger 1956.[http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage.prx?exp=2989 The Encyclopedia of Computer Languages] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916104501/http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage.prx?exp=2989 |date=September 16, 2007 }} These machines were variable word length commercial machines, as were many of the computers for which an Autocoder was released.
Besides the 702 and 705, there eventually also were Autocoders for the IBM 1410 and 7010,{{cite manual
| title = IBM 1410 Autocoder
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = C28-0309-1
| edition = Second
| date = February 1964
| publisher = IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0309-1_1410_autocoder.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
| title = IBM 1410/700 Operating System (1410-PR-155) - Autocoder - 1410-AU-968
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = C28-0336-2
| edition = Third
| date = November 1964
| publisher = IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0326-2_1410_OS_Autocoder.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
IBM 7030 (Stretch), 7070/7072/7074,{{cite manual
| title = Reference Manual - IBM 7070/7074 Four-Tape Autocoder
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = C28-6102-1
| edition = Second
| date = April 1961
| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6102-1_7070_Four_Tape_Autocoder_Apr61.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
| title = Reference Manual - IBM 7070 Series Programming Systems - Autocoder
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = C28-6121-0
| edition = First
| year = 1961
| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6121-0_7070autocoder_61.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
| title = Reference Manual - IBM 7080 Programming Systems - 7080 Processor: Autocoder Language
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = C28-6263
| edition = First
| year = 1962
| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6121-0_7070autocoder_61.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
and the IBM 1400 series.7010: Weik 1964, p. 0160; 7030:{{cite web
| title = IBM Stretch (aka IBM 7030 Data Processing System)
| url = http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/ibm/stretch/
| mode = cs2
}}, {{cite web
| title = Compilers and Computers: Partners in Performance
| url = http://www.cgo.org/cgo2003/keynote/FranAllenCGO.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}; 7070: {{cite web
| title = The IBM 7070
| author = Tom Van Vleck
| website = A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems
| url = http://www.multicians.org/thvv/7070.html
| mode = cs2
}}, {{cite web
| title = IBM 7070
| author = Martin H. Weik
| publisher = Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland
| url = http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61-ibm7070.html
| mode = cs2
}}; 7080: [http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/052/ibmsj0502B.pdf]; 1400 series: [https://web.archive.org/web/20100820215557/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/dpd50/dpd50_chronology2.html], {{cite book
| title = 1410 Autocoder
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0309-1_1410_autocoder.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}.
Autocoder as implemented on the IBM 1401
Symbolic Programming System{{cite manual
| title = IBM 1401 SYMBOLIC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM: PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS
| id = J28-200-1
| year = 1960
| publisher = IBM
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/J28-200-1_IBM_1401_Symbolic_Programming_System_Preliminary_Specifications_Jan60.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
(SPS), was the assembler offered when IBM originally announced 1401 as a punched-card-only computer. SPS had different mnemonics and a different fixed input format from Autocoder. It lacked Autocoder's features and was generally used later only on machines that lacked tape drives, that is, punched-card only.{{cite web |last1=Thelen |first1=Ed |title=IBM-1401 |url=http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/ibm-1401.html |accessdate=Mar 5, 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Van Vleck |first1=Tom |title=1401s I have known |url=https://www.multicians.org/thvv/1401s.html |website=multicians.org |accessdate=Mar 5, 2020}}
File:IBM 1401 AUTOCODER programm select and print.jpg
1401 Autocoder{{cite manual
| title = Autocoder (on Tape) Language Specifications and Operating Procedures IBM 1401 and 1460 Program 1401-AU-037
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = C24-3319-0
| edition = First
| date = November 1964
| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/C24-3319-0_Autocoder_on_Tape_Laguage_Specifications_and_Operating_Procedures_Nov64.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
| title = Autocoder (on Disk) Language Specifications IBM 1401, 1440, and 1460
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
| id = C24-3258-2
| edition = Third
| date = April 1966
| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/C24-3258-2_Disk_Autocoder_Specifications_Apr66.pdf
| mode = cs2
}}
is the most well known Autocoder, undoubtedly due in part to the general success of that series of machines. Autocoder was the primary language of this computer, and its macro capabilities facilitated use of the Input/Output Control System which eased the programming burden.
{{cite book |last1=IBM Corporation |title=Executive Guide to the IBM 1440 Data Processing System |url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/IBM.1440.1962.102646251.pdf |accessdate=Mar 8, 2020}}Solomon 1993, p. 8{{cite web|url=http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage2.prx?exp%3D3872 |title=The Encyclopedia of Computer Languages |accessdate=2007-03-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070917100201/http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage2.prx?exp=3872 |archivedate=2007-09-17 }}. Autocoder also had the ability to process code written for SPS.
The 1401 was available in six memory configurations, with 1400, 2000, 4000, 8000, 12000, or 16000 six-bit characters. The 8000-character model was the minimum needed to run the full Autocoder assembler application, including IOCS. However a language subset assembler was available for use with as little as 1400 memory positions. A loadable object file, on punched cards or magnetic tape, could be produced on an 8000-character model which could then be run on a 4000-character machine. The limited language subset only processed punched cards and required 4 passes with intermediate punched card outputs.
Influence
The popularity of Autocoder inspired other assemblers. ‘’Easycoder’’ for the Honeywell 200, a computer similar to the 1401, resembled Autocoder. Other manufacturers sometimes built competing products, such as NCR's "National's Electronic Autocoder Technique" (NEAT).Weik 1964, p. 0202.
The Pennsylvania State University developed a "Dual Autocoder Fortran Translator" (DAFT) compiler for the IBM 7074 in the 1960s which made it extremely easy to write (within a single program) lines of autocoder instructions freely interspersed with lines of Fortran code. This allowed symbolic machine instruction level coding within a higher level Fortran program, which was especially useful for optimizing the speed of inner loops, or for making use of the IBM 7074's unusual decimal word architecture.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}
Bell Laboratories developed a program called "Peripheral Equipment Symbolic Translator" (PEST), which was a 1401 cross-assembler that ran on the 709/709x and accepted a subset of 1401 Autocoder.{{cite book |last1=IBM Corporation |title=Catalog of Programs for IBM Data Processing Systems KWIC Index |date=1962 |page=248 |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/pgmCatalog/C20-8090_Catalog_of_Programs_for_IBM_Data_Processing_Systems_KWIC_Index_Apr62.pdf |accessdate=Mar 5, 2020}}
A copy of the source programs for SPS-1, SPS-2 and Autocoder was donated to the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota in 1985, by Gary Mokotoff, author of SPS and coauthor of Autocoder.{{Citation|title=Gary Mokotoff Collection of IBM 1401 Program Listings, 1959-1961|url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/231}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- Allen, F. E., "The history of language processor technology at IBM", IBM Journal of Research and Development, 25(5), pp. 535–548 (September 1981). [http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/255/ibmrd2505Q.pdf]
- Goldfinger, Roy, "The IBM Type 705 Autocoder". Proceedings East Joint Computer Conf., San Francisco, 1956.
- Hopper, Grace, "Automatic Coding for Digital Computers" in the High Speed Computer Conference, Louisiana State (1955) the High Speed Computer Conference, Louisiana State University, 16 Feb. 1955, Remington Rand, Inc., 1955. [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/HopperAutoCodingPaper_1955.pdf]
- {{cite book |author-first=David |author-last=Salomon |editor-first=Ian D. |editor-last=Chivers |title=Assemblers and Loaders |date=February 1993 |edition=1 |series=Ellis Horwood Series In Computers And Their Applications |publisher=Ellis Horwood Limited / Simon & Schuster International Group |location=Chicester, West Sussex, UK |isbn=0-13-052564-2 |url=http://www.davidsalomon.name/assem.advertis/asl.pdf |access-date=2008-10-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323010358/http://www.davidsalomon.name/assem.advertis/asl.pdf |archive-date=2020-03-23}} [http://www.davidsalomon.name/assem.advertis/AssemAd.html][https://www.scribd.com/doc/7326575/Assembly-Language] (xiv+294+4 pages)
- Weik, Martin H., A Fourth Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems,BRL Report No. 1227, January 1964 (Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland). [http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-i.html]
External links
- [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/17065/IBM-1401-Autocoder-specifications/ IBM 1401 Autocoder Specifications J24-1434-2]
- [http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0309-1_1410_autocoder.pdf 1964 IBM 1410 Autocoder manual from Bitsavers]
- [http://99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-assembler-(1401-autocoder)-1071.html IBM 1401 Autocoder example]
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