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Evidence for 28 possible compilers in 1957

In two earlier posts I discussed the early compilers for languages that are still widely used today and a report from 1963 showing how nothing has changed in programming languages

The Handbook of Automation Computation and Control Volume 2, published in 1959, contains some interesting information. In particular Table 23 (below) is a list of “Automatic Coding Systems” (containing over 110 systems from 1957, or which 54 have a cross in the compiler column):

Computer System Name or      Developed by        Code M.L. Assem Inter Comp Oper-Date Indexing Fl-Pt Symb. Algeb.
           Acronym   
IBM 704 AFAC                 Allison G.M.         C                      X    Sep 57    M2       M    2      X
        CAGE                 General Electric                 X          X    Nov 55    M2       M    2
        FORC                 Redstone Arsenal                            X    Jun 57    M2       M    2      X
        FORTRAN              IBM                  R                      X    Jan 57    M2       M    2      X
        NYAP                 IBM                              X               Jan 56    M2       M    2
        PACT IA              Pact Group                                  X    Jan 57    M2       M    1
        REG-SYMBOLIC         Los Alamos                       X               Nov 55    M2       M    1
        SAP                  United Aircraft      R           X               Apr 56    M2       M    2 
        NYDPP                Servo Bur. Corp.                 X               Sep 57    M2       M    2 
        KOMPILER3            UCRL Livermore                              X    Mar 58    M2       M    2      X
IBM 701 ACOM                 Allison G.M.         C                X          Dec 54    S1       S    0
        BACAIC               Boeing Seattle       A           X          X    Jul 55             S    1      X
        BAP                  UC Berkeley                X     X               May 57                  2
        DOUGLAS              Douglas SM                       X               May 53             S    1
        DUAL                 Los Alamos                 X          X          Mar 53             S    1
        607                  Los Alamos                       X               Sep 53                  1
        FLOP                 Lockheed Calif.            X     X    X          Mar 53             S    1 
        JCS 13               Rand Corp.                       X               Dec 53                  1
        KOMPILER 2           UCRL Livermore                              X    Oct 55    S2            1      X
        NAA ASSEMBLY         N. Am. Aviation                       X
        PACT I               Pact Groupb          R                      X    Jun 55    S2            1
        QUEASY               NOTS Inyokern                         X          Jan 55             S
        QUICK                Douglas ES                            X          Jun 53             S    0
        SHACO                Los Alamos                            X          Apr 53             S    1
        SO 2                 IBM                              X               Apr 53                  1
        SPEEDCODING          IBM                  R           X    X          Apr 53    S1       S    1
IBM 705-1, 2 ACOM            Allison G.M.         C                X          Apr 57    S1            0
        AUTOCODER            IBM                  R    X      X          X    Dec 56             S    2
        ELI                  Equitable Life       C                X          May 57    S1            0
        FAIR                 Eastman Kodak                         X          Jan 57             S    0
        PRINT I              IBM                  R    X      X    X          Oct 56    82       S    2
        SYMB. ASSEM.         IBM                              X               Jan 56             S    1
        SOHIO                Std. Oil of Ohio          X      X    X          May 56    S1       S    1
        FORTRAN              IBM-Guide            A                      X    Nov 58    S2       S    2      X
        IT                   Std. Oil of Ohio     C                      X              S2       S    1      X
        AFAC                 Allison G.M.         C                      X              S2       S    2      X
IBM 705-3 FORTRAN            IBM-Guide            A                      X    Dec 58    M2       M    2      X
        AUTOCODER            IBM                  A           X          X    Sep 58             S    2
IBM 702 AUTOCODER            IBM                       X      X          X    Apr 55             S    1
        ASSEMBLY             IBM                              X               Jun 54                  1
        SCRIPT G. E.         Hanford              R    X      X    X     X    Jul 55    Sl       S    1 
IBM 709 FORTRAN              IBM                  A                      X    Jan 59    M2       M    2      X
        SCAT                 IBM-Share            R           X          X    Nov 58    M2       M    2
IBM 650 ADES II              Naval Ord. Lab                              X    Feb 56    S2       S    1      X
        BACAIC               Boeing Seattle       C           X    X     X    Aug 56             S    1      X
        BALITAC              M.I.T.                    X      X          X    Jan 56    Sl            2
        BELL L1              Bell Tel. Labs            X           X          Aug 55    Sl       S    0
        BELL L2,L3           Bell Tel. Labs            X           X          Sep 55    Sl       S    0
        DRUCO I              IBM                                   X          Sep 54             S    0
        EASE II              Allison G.M.                     X    X          Sep 56    S2       S    2
        ELI                  Equitable Life       C                X          May 57    Sl            0
        ESCAPE               Curtiss-Wright                   X    X     X    Jan 57    Sl       S    2
        FLAIR                Lockheed MSD, Ga.         X           X          Feb 55    Sl       S    0
        FOR TRANSIT          IBM-Carnegie Tech.   A                      X    Oct 57    S2       S    2      X
        IT                   Carnegie Tech.       C                      X    Feb 57    S2       S    1      X
        MITILAC              M.I.T.                    X           X          Jul 55    Sl       S    2
        OMNICODE             G. E. Hanford                         X     X    Dec 56    Sl       S    2
        RELATIVE             Allison G.M.                     X               Aug 55    Sl       S    1
        SIR                  IBM                                   X          May 56             S    2
        SOAP I               IBM                              X               Nov 55                  2
	SOAP II              IBM                  R           X               Nov 56    M        M    2
        SPEED CODING         Redstone Arsenal          X           X          Sep 55    Sl       S    0
        SPUR                 Boeing Wichita            X      X    X          Aug 56    M        S    1
        FORTRAN (650T)       IBM                  A                      X    Jan 59    M2       M    2
Sperry Rand 1103A COMPILER I  Boeing Seattle                  X          X    May 57             S    1      X
        FAP                  Lockheed MSD              X           X          Oct 56    Sl       S    0
        MISHAP               Lockheed MSD                     X               Oct 56    M1       S    1
        RAWOOP-SNAP          Ramo-Wooldridge                  X    X          Jun 57    M1       M    1
        TRANS-USE            Holloman A.F.B.                  X               Nov 56    M1       S    2
        USE                  Ramo-Wooldridge      R           X          X    Feb 57    M1       M    2
        IT                   Carn. Tech.-R-W      C                      X    Dec 57    S2       S    1      X
        UNICODE              R Rand St. Paul      R                      X    Jan 59    S2       M    2      X
Sperry Rand 1103 CHIP        Wright A.D.C.             X           X          Feb 56    S1       S    0
        FLIP/SPUR            Convair San Diego         X           X          Jun 55    SI       S    0
        RAWOOP               Ramo-Wooldridge      R           X               Mar 55    S1            1
        8NAP                 Ramo-Wooldridge      R           X    X          Aug 55    S1       S    1
Sperry Rand Univac I and II AO Remington Rand          X      X          X    May 52    S1       S    1
        Al                   Remington Rand            X      X          X    Jan 53    S1       S    1
        A2                   Remington Rand            X      X          X    Aug 53    S1       S    1
        A3,ARITHMATIC        Remington Rand       C    X      X          X    Apr 56    SI       S    1
        AT3,MATHMATIC        Remington Rand       C           X          X    Jun 56    SI       S    2      X
        BO,FLOWMATIC         Remington Rand       A    X      X          X    Dec 56    S2       S    2
        BIOR                 Remington Rand            X      X          X    Apr 55                  1
        GP                   Remington Rand       R    X      X          X    Jan 57    S2       S    1
        MJS (UNIVAC I)       UCRL Livermore            X      X               Jun 56                  1
        NYU,OMNIFAX          New York Univ.                              X    Feb 54             S    1
        RELCODE              Remington Rand            X      X               Apr 56                  1
        SHORT CODE           Remington Rand            X           X          Feb 51             S    1
        X-I                  Remington Rand       C    X      X               Jan 56                  1
        IT                   Case Institute       C                      X              S2       S    1      X
        MATRIX MATH          Franklin Inst.                              X    Jan 58    
Sperry Rand File Compo ABC   R Rand St. Paul                                  Jun 58
Sperry Rand Larc K5          UCRL Livermore                   X          X              M2       M    2      X
        SAIL                 UCRL Livermore                   X                         M2       M    2
Burroughs Datatron 201, 205 DATACODEI Burroughs                          X    Aug 57    MS1      S    1
        DUMBO                Babcock and Wilcox                    X     X   
        IT                   Purdue Univ.         A                      X    Jul 57    S2       S    1      X
        SAC                  Electrodata               X      X               Aug 56             M    1
        UGLIAC               United Gas Corp.                      X          Dec 56             S    0
                               Dow Chemical                        X
        STAR                 Electrodata                      X
Burroughs UDEC III UDECIN-I  Burroughs                             X              57    M/S       S   1
        UDECOM-3             Burroughs                                   X        57    M         S   1
M.I.T. Whirlwind ALGEBRAIC   M.I.T.               R                      X              S2        S   1      X
        COMPREHENSIVE        M.I.T.                    X      X    X          Nov 52    Sl        S   1
        SUMMER SESSION       M.I.T.                                X          Jun 53    Sl        S   1
Midac   EASIAC               Univ. of Michigan                     X     X    Aug 54    SI        S
        MAGIC                Univ. of Michigan         X      X          X    Jan 54    Sl        S
Datamatic ABC I              Datamatic Corp.                             X   
Ferranti TRANSCODE           Univ. of Toronto     R           X    X     X    Aug 54    M1        S
Illiac DEC INPUT             Univ. of Illinois    R           X               Sep 52    SI        S
Johnniac EASY FOX            Rand Corp.           R           X               Oct 55              S
Norc NORC COMPILER           Naval Ord. Lab                   X          X    Aug 55    M2        M
Seac BASE 00                 Natl. Bur. Stds.          X           X
        UNIV. CODE           Moore School                                X    Apr 55

Chart Symbols used:

Code
R = Recommended for this computer, sometimes only for heavy usage.
C = Common language for more than one computer.
A = System is both recommended and has common language.
 
Indexing
M = Actual Index registers or B boxes in machine hardware.
S = Index registers simulated in synthetic language of system.
1 = Limited form of indexing, either stopped undirectionally or by one word only, or having
certain registers applicable to only certain variables, or not compound (by combination of
contents of registers).
2 = General form, any variable may be indexed by anyone or combination of registers which may
be freely incremented or decremented by any amount.
 
Floating point
M = Inherent in machine hardware.
S = Simulated in language.
 
Symbolism
0 = None.
1 = Limited, either regional, relative or exactly computable.
2 = Fully descriptive English word or symbol combination which is descriptive of the variable
or the assigned storage.
 
Algebraic
A single continuous algebraic formula statement may be made. Processor has mechanisms for
applying associative and commutative laws to form operative program.
 
M.L. = Machine language.
Assem. = Assemblers.
Inter. = Interpreters.
Compl. = Compilers.

Are the compilers really compilers as we know them today, or is this terminology that has not yet settled down? The computer terminology chapter refers readers interested in Assembler, Compiler and Interpreter to the entry for Routine:

Routine. A set of instructions arranged in proper sequence to cause a computer to perform a desired operation or series of operations, such as the solution of a mathematical problem.

Compiler (compiling routine), an executive routine which, before the desired computation is started, translates a program expressed in pseudo-code into machine code (or into another pseudo-code for further translation by an interpreter).

Assemble, to integrate the subroutines (supplied, selected, or generated) into the main routine, i.e., to adapt, to specialize to the task at hand by means of preset parameters; to orient, to change relative and symbolic addresses to absolute form; to incorporate, to place in storage.

Interpreter (interpretive routine), an executive routine which, as the computation progresses, translates a stored program expressed in some machine-like pseudo-code into machine code and performs the indicated operations, by means of subroutines, as they are translated. …”

The definition of “Assemble” sounds more like a link-load than an assembler.

When the coding system has a cross in both the assembler and compiler column, I suspect we are dealing with what would be called an assembler today. There are 28 crosses in the Compiler column that do not have a corresponding entry in the assembler column; does this mean there were 28 compilers in existence in 1957? I can imagine many of the languages being very simple (the fashionability of creating programming languages was already being called out in 1963), so producing a compiler for them would be feasible.

The citation given for Table 23 contains a few typos. I think the correct reference is: Bemer, Robert W. “The Status of Automatic Programming for Scientific Problems.” Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Computer Applications Symposium, 107-117. Armour Research Foundation, Illinois Institute of Technology, Oct. 24-25, 1957.

  1. May 30, 2017 19:39 | #1

    My early (during high school) self-education about computers involved borrowing a lot of books about computers from the public library (I would search the bibliography of a book in hand and write a list of books I thought might be interesting, and repeat. Our public library could borrow books from most any library in North America.) As a result I often read what were often rather old books even at the time, and I ended up with some dead-ended knowledge by the time I got to university and found I had to relearn several things.

    One of those things I had to relearn was “assembler”.

    The first time I read the as(1) manual page on V7 Unix I was quite confused! I had learned an assembler was what this handbook describes. What we call an assembler today is really something which does basic symbol translation. Adding to my confusion what I thought of as an “assembler” was called a “loader” (and later a “linker”).

    BTW, I’m not sure you can trust that table to adhere even to the definitions in the book. For example the NYU Omnifax “compiler” doesn’t even use a symbolic representation of machine instructions. See the example subroutine on this page of the original report:

    https://archive.org/stream/nyuomnifaxcompil00ragu#page/26/mode/2up

    At NYU at that time they seemed to use the word “compiler” in the same way the handbook uses “assembler”.

  2. May 30, 2017 22:47 | #2

    @Greg A. Woods
    I suspect the book authors took the information given them by the creators of the language/implementation (or whatever published information was available) and plugged it into the table.

    It is claimed that Grace Hopper’s A1 system was a link-loader and not a compiler in the sene we know it today (or the sense used in this book). Until more of her early papers become available online we will have to wait and see (unless somebody does the analysis for a thesis project)..

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