Xref: utzoo comp.arch:20685 alt.folklore.computers:9413 Path: utzoo!utgpu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ogicse!cvedc!gssc!timr From: timr@gssc.UUCP (Tim Roberts) Newsgroups: comp.arch,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Jovial (was Re: Info on GE-635) Message-ID: <6521@gssc.UUCP> Date: 7 Feb 91 17:48:51 GMT References: <1665@digi.lonestar.org> <193900.598@timbuk.cray.com> Organization: Graphic Software Systems, Inc. Beaverton, Or. Lines: 41 In article <193900.598@timbuk.cray.com> wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector) writes: >In article , 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. I have to agree. There is a GREAT deal if Jovial code still running today on some fascinating and arcane architectures. > - What did it do/not do well? It shares many of its strong (and weak!) points with C. It tends to rather easily allow direct bit-level access to hardware. It was typed, but (like C) rather weakly. Also, Jovial code tends to make strong use of pointers and linked lists, simply because the language supports them so well. > - Why did(/do) the Feds love it so much? The Feds loved it by definition. It was, for a long time, THE standard programming language of the US Air Force. >> 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. Control Data's SYMPL is a very close derivation of Jovial. ITEMs, ARRAYs and BASED ARRAYs, the odd variable declaration syntax, all of this came from Jovial. The early SYMPL compilers shared a great deal of common code with CDC's Jovial compiler. If you know SYMPL, you can read Jovial almost immediately. -- timr@gssc.gss.com Tim N Roberts, CCP Graphic Software Systems Beaverton, OR This is a very long palindrome. .emordnilap gnol yrev a si sihT