Kenneth Lock
ABSTRACT
The modern art of computation has developed from plugboard programming through the stored machine instruction programs controlled by the users on the consoles, then to problem-oriented symbolic programs computed in the batch mode, towards the on-line computing during which the users have a large amount of control over their programs. The lower cost per computation and flexibilities of a large capacity high-speed computer naturally lead us to consider the provision of on-line computing service to several users on a single high-performance machine in a time-sharing mode, rather than several smaller machines, one for each individual. To maximize the efficiency of a man-machine team working in an on-line computing mode, it is desirable to let the man choose the language---say English---for communication and to let the machine do the translation. This idealistic goal is not impossible, but is currently impractical. A good compromise is to select as the user language a formal language such as ALGOL, FORTRAN or LISP which has a set of explicit syntactical rules and a small set of basic vocabulary. The user then may extend the vocabulary by declarative statements and communicate with the machine in the extended vocabulary. Due to frequent message exchanges between the man and the machine during on-line computing, the machine representation of users' programs must be easy to modify at the source language level. The technological trend towards large random access memory suggests the retention of several users' programs in core simultaneously, hence mutual memory protection must be ensured.
- A. J. Perlis and R. Iturriaga, "An Extension to ALGOL for Manipulating Formulae," Communications of the ACM, vol. 7, pp. 127--130 (Feb. 1964). Google Scholar
Digital Library
- P. Naur et al, "Revised Report on the Algorithmic Language ALGOL 60," Communications of the ACM, vol. 6, pp. 1--17 (Jan. 1963). Google ScholarDigital Library
- N. Wirth, "A Generalization of ALGOL," Communications of the ACM, vol. 6, pp. 547--554 (Sept. 1963). Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. McCarthy et al, LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1961. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. E. Sammet and E. R. Bond, "Introduction to FORMAC," IEEE Transactions on Electronic Computers, vol. EC-13, pp. 386--394 (Aug. 1964).Google ScholarCross Ref
- "IBM 7040 / 7044 Remote Computing System," IBM System Reference Library file no. 7040--25, form C28-6800-0.Google Scholar
- Structuring programs for multiprogram time-sharing on-line applications
Recommendations
A time- and memory-sharing executive program for quick-response, on-line applications
AFIPS '65 (Fall, part II): Proceedings of the November 30--December 1, 1965, fall joint computer conference, part II: computers: their impact on societyThe TX-2 Computer, an experimental facility at M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory, has been in operation since 1960. Never a service facility, the computer has been used principally in a number of long-term research projects that have taken advantage of the ...
Compiling Embedded Programs to Byte Code
PADL '02: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Practical Aspects of Declarative LanguagesFunctional languages have proven substantially useful for hosting embedded domain-specific languages. They provide an infrastructure rich enough to define both a convenient syntax for the embedded language, a type system for embedded programs, and an ...
Compilation of Nonprocedural Specifications into Computer Programs
The paper describes the compilation of a program specification, written in the very high level nonprocedural MODEL language, into an object, PL/1 or Cobol, procedural language program. Nonprocedural programming languages are descriptive and devoid of ...
Comments