Xref: utzoo comp.arch:20656 alt.folklore.computers:9375
Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!timbuk!raphael!wws
From: wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector)
Newsgroups: comp.arch,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Jovial (was Re: Info on GE-635)
Message-ID: <193900.598@timbuk.cray.com>
Date: 7 Feb 91 02:44:03 GMT
References: <1665@digi.lonestar.org> <PCG.91Feb2211921@odin.cs.aber.ac.uk>
Reply-To: wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector)
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Lines: 37

In article <PCG.91Feb2211921@odin.cs.aber.ac.uk>, pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk
(Piercarlo Grandi) writes:

> A very important language for the 635 was Jovial. I think that Jovial is
> one of the more widely used languages, in terms of lines of code lying
> around. Wasn't the USA military WWCCS implemented in a few million lines
> of (among others) Jovial on GE 600 (in their various later incarnations
> as Honeywell 6000, etc.) machines?

I have a few questions on Jovial:

 - When was JOVIAL written?

 - What were the salient features of Jovial?

 - What did it do/not do well?

 - What machines was it developed on? and did it run on?

 - Why did(/do) the Feds love it so much?

 - What other good stories does anyone have?

In short, what was Jules Schwartz thinking when he wrote 
his Own Version of IAL?

> Notable point about Jovial: it is the only language I have seen that
> makes explicit the important difference between serial and parallel
> representations of arrays of records.

SYMPL (SYsteMs Programming Language) for the 60-bit CDC systems
had this feature.

Walt Spector
(wws@renaissance.cray.com)
Sunnyvale, California
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