TELCOMP
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TELCOMP was a
programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...
developed at
Bolt, Beranek and Newman Raytheon BBN (originally Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc.) is an American research and development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1966, the Franklin Institute awarded the firm the Frank P. Brown Medal, in 1999 BBN received the ...
(BBN) in about 1964 and in use until at least 1974. BBN offered TELCOMP as a paid service, with first revenue in October 1965. The service was sold to On-Line Systems, Inc. (OLS) in 1972. In the United Kingdom, TELCOMP was offered by Time Sharing, Ltd, a partnership between BBN and an entrepreneur named Richard Evans. It was an interactive, conversational language based on
JOSS JOSS (acronym for JOHNNIAC Open Shop System) was one of the first interactive, time-sharing programming languages. It pioneered many features that would become common in languages from the 1960s into the 1980s, including use of line numbers as bo ...
, developed by BBN after
Cliff Shaw John Clifford Shaw (February 23, 1922 – February 9, 1991) was a systems programmer at the RAND Corporation. He is a coauthor of the first artificial intelligence program, the Logic Theorist, and was one of the developers of General Problem Sol ...
from
RAND The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...
visited the labs in 1964 as part of the NIH survey. It was first implemented on the
PDP-1 The PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1) is the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1959. It is known for being the most important computer in the creation of hacker culture at the Massachusetts ...
and was used to provide a commercial
time sharing In computing, time-sharing is the concurrent sharing of a computing resource among many tasks or users by giving each task or user a small slice of processing time. This quick switch between tasks or users gives the illusion of simultaneous ...
service by BBN in the Boston area and later by Time Sharing Ltd. in the United Kingdom. In 1996,
Leo Beranek Leo Leroy Beranek (September 15, 1914 – October 10, 2016) was an American acoustics expert, former MIT professor, and a founder and former president of Bolt, Beranek and Newman (now BBN Technologies). He authored ''Acoustics'', considered a cl ...
said "We even developed a programming language called TELCOMP that to this day, some say was better than the programming language that the industry adopted, namely BASIC." There were at least three versions: TELCOMP I, TELCOMP II, and TELCOMP III. TELCOMP I was implemented on the
PDP-1 The PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1) is the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1959. It is known for being the most important computer in the creation of hacker culture at the Massachusetts ...
, TELCOMP II on the
PDP-7 The PDP-7 is an 18-bit computing, 18-bit minicomputer produced by Digital Equipment Corporation as part of the Programmed Data Processor, PDP series. Introduced in 1964, shipped since 1965, it was the first to use their Flip-Chip module, Flip- ...
and TELCOMP III on the
PDP-10 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especi ...
, running on DEC 's
TOPS-10 TOPS-10 System (Timesharing / Total Operating System-10) is a discontinued operating system from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for the PDP-10 (or DECsystem-10) mainframe computer family. Launched in 1967, TOPS-10 evolved from the earlier "Mo ...
operating system or on BBN's own TENEX operating system. TELCOMP programs were normally input via a
paper tape Five- and eight-hole wide punched paper tape Paper tape reader on the Harwell computer with a small piece of five-hole tape connected in a circle – creating a physical program loop Punched tape or perforated paper tape is a form of data st ...
reader on a
Teletype Model 33 The Teletype Model 33 is an electromechanical teleprinter designed for light-duty office use. It is less rugged and cost less than earlier Teletype models. The Teletype Corporation introduced the Model 33 as a commercial product in 1963, after ...
, which would be connected to a PDP via a
modem The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establis ...
and acoustic telephone line. Data could be read from the paper tape reader or from the Teletype keyboard. Output was either printed to the Teletype or sent to the paper tape punch. Early versions had no facility for on-line storage of programs or data. During data input using a Teletype, the user would type a response to a printed prompt. If, instead of hitting , the user hit , another, possibly computed, prompt would be printed on the same line. This process could be repeated for the full width of the line. This unusual feature allowed very compact data entry, comparable to full-screen CRT data entry. It saved paper, and the input section of the form became part of the program's printed output. A later derivative of TELCOMP called
STRINGCOMP STRINGCOMP was a programming language developed at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN). It was one of the three variants of JOSS II (along with TELCOMP and FILECOMP) that were developed by BBN. It had extended string handling capabilities to augm ...
was oriented towards string handling. Another BBN JOSS-derivative called
FILECOMP BBN Filecomp FILECOMP was a programming language developed at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN). It was one of the three variants of JOSS II (along with TELCOMP and STRINGCOMP) that were developed by BBN. The language was developed by Jordan ...
was developed for the GE MEDINET system, which was cancelled. The implicit file handling system it contained was influential on the
MUMPS MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gen ...
global database system. The initial research for
LOGO A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...
was carried out in TELCOMP, but only the
JOSS JOSS (acronym for JOHNNIAC Open Shop System) was one of the first interactive, time-sharing programming languages. It pioneered many features that would become common in languages from the 1960s into the 1980s, including use of line numbers as bo ...
-style errors and interaction made it through to the actual language.


Commands

A TELCOMP program was made up of numbered lines, each line referred to as a Step. Steps were grouped into Parts. Each line contained one instruction. DEMAND Read input from the teletype DO PART Execute all of the steps in a numbered part and then return DO STEP Execute a single line and return DONE Stop execution of current part and return to caller IF Condition, suffixed to any instruction FOR Loop, suffixed to any instruction PLOT Type output to the teletype in the form of a graph PRINT Print output to the teletype READ Read input from the paper tape reader SEND Send output to the paper tape punch SET Assign a variable to the value of an expression STOP Stop execution completely TO PART Go to a specified part TO STEP Go to a specified line TYPE Emulate teletype input while in stored operation mode (like the TCL/TK Expect functionality) ; Comment, suffixed to any line FORM A specification for formatted output (not really a command)


Sample Program

1.04 TYPE #,"ENTER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:-";MENU 1.05 TYPE FORM X FOR X=1:1:4 FOR END=10^15 1.06 READ GRNO IN FORM 15 1.065 DONE IF GRNO=END 1.07 TO STEP 1.06 IF GRNO>4 1.08 TO PART GRNO+1 2.01 DO PART 50 2.02 READ N,K 2.03 DO PART 51 2.04 TO PART 15 .. 15.01 LINE FOR X=1:1:3 15.02 TYPE MINPL,MAXPL IN FORM 17 15.03 TYPE FORM 17 15.04 DO PART GRNO+15 FOR X=MNPL:STPL:MXPL 16.01 Y=(X^N)+K 16.02 Y1 (((Y-MNPL)/(MXPL-MNPL))*2)-1 .. FORM 15 ITEM NUMBER? ##### FORM 17 MINIMUM ##### MAXIMUM ######


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Telcomp JOSS programming language family