Pre IBM/360 a number of different names were used for what we would now
call "Assemblers". On IBM 1400 series the name "Autocoder" was also
used. On the IBM 1620 it was called SPS (Symbolic Programming System.
On IBM 7000 series it was called the Macro Assembly Program or MAP.
JC Ewing
On 12/31/24 5:12 PM, Clement Clarke wrote:
I cut my teeth on some English computers in the 1960's before the 360 was
invented. We programmed in PLAN on the ICL 1900 and in Intercode on the
English Electric LEOs. I am pretty sure we used to refer to them as
Assemblers.
Shell Oil in Melbourne had two LEO's. They were paper tape based machines
instead of cards. And interestingly they were fully multiprogramming
machines.
However, I looked up the first "super computer" - the Atlas. The Atlas was
apparently the first computer to have Virtual storage. And there is some
discussion about Autocoders, which was the name given to what we would call
Assemblers now, i think.
Regarding machine language, ZAPS would be the closest anyone would get to
that these days, I suspect? Or debugging under TEST perhaps?
Clem
On Tue, Dec 31, 2024 at 5:51 AM Phil Smith III <li...@akphs.com> wrote:
Oops, I sent too soon: that Wikipedia page also distinguishes "assemblY
code" from the "assemblER", which is the thing that processes the code to
create [what I'd call] machine code. That makes a wee bit more sense,
though it's a tiny distinction that I've never seen before. If so, then we
write assembly code that the assembler assembles into machine code. Hmm.
-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Smith III <li...@akphs.com>
Sent: Monday, December 30, 2024 1:44 PM
To: 'IBM Mainframe Discussion List' <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU>; IBM
assembler list (assembler-l...@listserv.uga.edu) <
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Subject: Assembler vs. assembly vs. machine code
(Cross-posted to IBM-MAIN, IBMVM, and the IBM assembler list)
I just finished a book, The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak, which I
quite enjoyed. Part of the plot involves characters writing code on a
Commodore 64, including some "machine code". It seemed clear from the
description that they meant what I'd call assembler; some Googling quickly
found https://project64.c64.org/Software/mlcom.pdf, a guide to such
programming for the C64 which definitely seems to blur the terms.
I wrote the author, who cheerfully confirmed that yes, they're used
interchangeably in that world.
Which led me to wonder several things:
1. Which platforms call it assembler and which call it assembly? (And
why?) 2. Am I odd in thinking that in our world, "machine code" is the hex
that the hardware expects, and assembler is the opcodes/mnemonics that we
mostly use?
3. What are we "assembling"?
On #1, I suspect that we call it assemblER because that's what ASMXF and H
and HL call themselves as much as any other reason.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language says in part "assembly
language (alternatively assembler language...or symbolic machine code)",
which confirms that it's blurry but doesn't otherwise clarify.
It also answers, kinda, #3:
The term "assembler" is generally attributed to Wilkes, Wheeler and Gill
in their 1951 book The Preparation of Programs for an Electronic Digital
Computer,... who, however, used the term to mean "a program that assembles
another program consisting of several sections into a single program".
So perhaps the two a-words aren't even really appropriate! Too late now,
of course...
What say ye? Does any of this conflict with your usage/thoughts?
...phsiii
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