Xref: utzoo comp.arch:20712 alt.folklore.computers:9444
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From: wailes@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Tom S Wailes)
Newsgroups: comp.arch,alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Jovial (was Re: Info on GE-635)
Summary: The SAGE system used Jovial
Message-ID: <1991Feb8.212943.2233@en.ecn.purdue.edu>
Date: 8 Feb 91 21:29:43 GMT
References: <1665@digi.lonestar.org> <PCG.91Feb2211921@odin.cs.aber.ac.uk> <193900.598@timbuk.cray.com>
Followup-To: comp.arch
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Lines: 38

In article <193900.598@timbuk.cray.com>, wws@raphael.cray.com (Walter Spector) writes:
> In article <PCG.91Feb2211921@odin.cs.aber.ac.uk>, pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk
> (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:
> 
>  - 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?
> 
> Walt Spector
> (wws@renaissance.cray.com)

Some years ago I had the honor of programming one of the worlds largest
collections of vacuum tubes ever put into large scale use.  It was called
the SAGE computer system and boasted of having 54,000 vacuum tubes (all
trying to ruin your day).  IBM made these systems ~ 1956-58 for the
Air Force for the Air Defense of the United States and Canada.  It was
labeled the "AFSN/Q-7" or the "Q-7" for short.  It was put out of service
at the end of 1983.  At that time it was replaced by modern main
frames.  At one time there were ~30 of these systems up and running in the
US and Canada.  Most of the main programs were written in Assembly
Language, and of course there was no operating system.  Millions of lines
of Assembly Code were maintained by a group of programmers devoted to
keeping the machine up to date (imagine how it was for us to interface the
AWACS).  Anyway, we had a Jovial compiler (any compiler is better than none)
and as I recall we used it for our off-line processing.  Things like our
exercise tape creation (for testing our radar scope operators and intercept
directors) was done with programs written in Jovial.  I even looked at some
of them.  But as things would happen, a very common practice was to make
updates to the assembly code generated by the Jovial compiler.  You have to
keep in mind that everyone knew our Assembly code.  Only a very few knew
Jovial.  I think that at one time alot of the Code written for the NORAD
command center (in C-Springs) was written in Jovial.  But perhaps someone
who actually worked there could enlighten us on that.


                                               Tom