Decuscope_Vol04_1965 Decuscope Vol04 1965

Decuscope_Vol04_1965 Decuscope_Vol04_1965

User Manual: Decuscope_Vol04_1965

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January 1965
L1NC DEMONSTRATION
IN COPHENHAGEN

Volume 4 Number 1
ENGINEERING PROJECT SCHEDULING SYSTEM
By: Robert Vernon, M .1. T. Student/Digital Equipment Corporation

Recently, Mr. Morton Ruderman of Digita I
Equipment Corporation attended a demonstration of the LI NC computer in Cophenhagen. The following are brief descriptions
of several of the programs that were demonstrated.
The presentation was opened by a few words
on the phi losophy of design and the history
of the LI NC and its development at M .1. T.,
the features of the LI NC tape, A to D:md
D to A and the re lay contro!s. A demonstration of the number of ways to enter the
machine either through the keyboard, the
toggle switches or data terminal box followed.
First to be demonstrated was the GUIDE
Utility Program. In general, th is utility
systems program enables one to very easily
lI1c:tore any programs on tape, to call for all
isting programs at the keyboard, up-date
'"vr modify, or to perform a number of different manipulations right at the keyboard
with everything instantaneously displayed
on the oscilloscope.
Secondly, the Basi lar Membrane Program
during which a mathematical model of the
effect of sound on the basi lar membrane was
performed. By having this model displayed
on the osci 1I0scope, one was ab Ie to determine, with a cursor, the phase shift of
the basi lar membrane as the frequency or
amplitude is varied any place along the
membrane.
Next, was the Cursor Program where any
data stored away on tape or in memory cou ld
be called forsuch as EKGorany particular
analog input which would be immediately.
displayed on the osc i 1I0scope. A cursor is
now avai lab Ie so that you can position it at
any point on the curve and identify its relative ampl itude.
The Fourier Analysis Program followed,
where again one could take any information
such as EKG's, store them on tape or in
memory and then display it on the osci 110scope and immediately get the frequency
distribution of the input. The information
'erses the scope from left to right and in
left-hand portion of the display scope
would immediately appear a bargraph of the
relative frequency distribution of the particu lar wave form. Also, the scope display may be frozen at any point.

Introduction
Digital Equipment Corporation is implementing an engineering project scheduling
system to help solve the coordination problems associated with project development.
The typical engineering development project encompasses several phases including
design, drafting, production, programming, and publications. Thus a firm, organized
on a project basis, requires coordination of these various functions. The project
engineer must know the work schedule in each department in order to schedule his
project, and the supporting departments must be given estimates of the work requirements associated with each project in order to estimate their manpower requirements
and work schedules. DEC's new scheduling system, discussed below, utilizes inhouse computing fac i Iities to achieve this coordination.
The System
The Project Scheduling System is an engineering planning guide with an automated
updating feature. The purpose of the system is to coordinate the engineering effort,
both internally and with the various service departments of the Company.
Spec ifically / the system wi II:
1.

Serve as a planning guide to the engineer by helping him
to coordinate the various activities within his project.

2.

Provide the Chief Engineer with up-to-date information
concerning the pro jected uti Iization of engineering manpower.

3.

Provide other departments such as Drafting, upon whose
services engineering depends, with up-to-date forecasts
of workload requirements.

4.

Provide a basis for estimating the engineering budget.

The Schedu Iing System consists of:
1.

A graph ica I schedu Ie for each pro ject.

2.

A program for updating the schedules.

3.

A series of computer- generated reports which indicate
the latest revision of the project manpower requ irements.

The schedu Ie format is simi lar to that used by the EXPERT system. 1 The engineer is
asked to layout on a calendar scale all activities associated with the project, including such non-engineering activities as the preparation o~ programs and publications. Figure 1 illustrates a hypothetical project schedule.
Experience has shown
that graphically laying out a project at an early stage aids the engineer in coordinating the various phases of the project and in meeting delivery date requirements.
Potentia I bott lenecks, such as those caused by the fai lure to order long-lead components at an ear Iy enough date, can often be foreseen and thus avoided by scheduIing in advance.
Shown on the schedu Ie are estimates of the manpower requ ired for each phase of the

LI NC (Continued)
A program written by Dr. Ki Ilam at Stanford University was also demonstrated. This
particular program allows you to take any
partic.u lar wave form or data and display it
immediately on the oscilloscope, and, by
hitting individual keys 0 n the keyboard,
perform various functions, i. e. differentiation, integration, reverse polarity, smoothing, enlarge amplitude, decrease ampli tude, or plot a bargraph. A n u m b e r of
other wave forms were displayed in this
form such as fetal electrocardiograms. The
abi Iity to manipu late and be able to process data in this manner was of extreme interest to many individuals. Then, ademonstration and discussion of the w 0 r k that
Washington University was doing on the
separation of the fetal heartbeat from the
combination of the maternal and feta I electrocardiogram followed. Using a memory
scope, certa i n characterist ics of both the
fetal and the maternal heartbeat were displayed such as breathing effects, etc. By
doing this, one is able to average out the
maternal EKG completely so that only the
fetal EKG remained.
The last demonstration that was performed
was to take an individual and connect him
to an electrocardiogram unit. The output
from this unit is connected directly into an
A to D channel of the analog input of the
LlNC, thus performing on-line processing
of electrocardiogram.s. In this manner, by
hitting the numbered keys on the keyboard,
a number of averaged EKGls appeared on
the scope. Five letters then appeared on
the osci Iloscope at various positions around
this EKG and these were: "R" for indicating the R wave of a typical electrocardiogram, the lip, II "Q," "5," portions of the
electrocardiogram. Of interest was the
difference between a single E KG with all
the noise and an average of 16 with all the
noise averaged out. Again, one cou Id take
this average EKG and store it away on the
tape, call for a program such as the Fourier
Analysis and do a frequency analysis of the
EKG that had just been obtained on-line.
Following the completion of the demonstrations, it was pointed out that a number of
input-output units, such as IBM Compatible
tape, ca Icomp plotters, teletypewriters and
x-v plotters have been interfaced to date
with the LINe perform i ng a variety of
appl ications.
For further information concerning L1NC
and its avai labi Iity, please contact Mr.
Morton Ruderman at DEC, Maynard.

DECUSCOPE is published monthly
for Dig ita I Equ ipment Computer
Users Society. Material for publication may be sent to: Editor,
DECUS, Maynard, Massachusetts.
Circulation: l,OOOcopies permonth

project; included in these estimates are the engineering, technician, drafting, production, and publ ications requ irements. From the estimates, manpower loading forecasts, which are updated periodically, are derived.
These summarized estimates provide the Chief Engineer with information regarding
the availability of his technical manpower for work on future projects. The service
areas are provided with advance notice of the work load requirements for each project
and of the approx imate dates that the work will be expected.
Experience has indicated that a given service department can effectively schedule
its work if it receives advanced notice of that work's arrival in the department; the
Scheduling System provides this information.
The project schedules also provide a quantitative basis for estimating the labor portion of the engineering budget. By applying standard costs to the manpower estiml'Jtes
indicated on the schedu Ie, rea Iistic budget estimates may be obtained. This technique' as well as aiding managerial planning, tends to give the project engineer a
greater appreciation for the costs involved in new product development.
The information required for updating a schedule is the present date and the status
of each current activity (as shown by the markers on Figure 1). This information
serves as the input data for a FORTRAN Scheduling Updating Program which operates
on a PDP-4 Computer with an 8K memory.

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PRESENT DATE MARKER
ACiTIVITY STATUS MARKER

Figure 1

The program acts upon the current status information and, in effect, slides the project
activities forward or baCkward through time, arriving at revised estimates of the
starting and completion dates of each activity. In addition, the program retot,:
the manpower requirements and prints a revised manpower load report for each servi
area.
The system has been designed with the engineer's aversion to "red tape" in mind.
Having originally prepared the schedule, not an ominous task, the engineer need

only indicate periodically the current status of the project.
issued without having to re-do the entire schedu Ie.

Up-to-date reports are

The output of the system is a series of reports for each department giving the latest
revision of the manpower requirements, summarized both on a weekly and a pro ject
basis. The engineer receives a report giving pro jected completion dates, according
to his latest progress report.
The system is presently being implemented at DEC; the programs and additional in=
formation wi II be avai lable soon.
1 As described in liThe EXPERT Approach to Program Control II by Irving C • Zacher,
Military Systems Design, Volume 7, No.5, October, 1963, pp. 26-29.
2The arrows indicate that a given activity may not be started unti I certain other
activities are complete.

340 INCREMENTAL DISPLAY APPLICATIONS
Psychological Studies
The Decision Sciences Laboratory of the Electronic Systems Division, Hanscom Air
Force Base, wi II use four 340 Displays with the PD P-1 in a series of experiments aimed
at evaluating and improving human performance in sequential information gathering.
Many of the experiments wi II depend on visual stimulation and response. With the
display, stimu Ii can be shown on the scope face and thE:; subject can respond directly
to the display with the light pen Ilwriting" his answers on the scope by selecting
,among displayed multiple choices.

THE 340 INCREMENTAL DISPLAY
The DEC Type 340 Precision Incremental
Display is a pow e rf u I new incremental
cathode ray tub e display that operates
asynchronously with the driving computer
program. The Type 340 Display uses the
computer memory to hold the display data
and control words but "stea Is" these words
when required without interrupting the program in execution. The 340 Display can
be driven by the PDP-l, PDP-4, PDP-6 or
PDP-7 computers.
The 340 wi II display information at anyone
of 1024x 1024 addressable points in a
9-3/8" square in one of s eve r a I modes:
Point, Increment , Vector, or Vector Continue. Operation in Point Mode is simply
the display of a point at the specified coordinates on the screen. Operation in
Increment Mode is the display of four points
per l8-bit word. Each point is 0 n e increment in any combination of orthogonal
directions a way from the last point. In
Incremental Mode, upto 15,000 points can
be displayed in one frame, flicker free.
Vector Mode generates a vector by incrementing the beam from point to point along
the hypotenuse of the triangle defined by
the specified 11 X and 11 Y. Ve\""tor Continue Mode simply per mit s the repeated
display of a specified vector unti I the edge
of the screen is violated. The scale of the
increments is variable from 1, 2, 4, or 8
points per increment.

In addition to the four incremental displays, the laboratory will include a large projection screen and random access slide projectors under program control. Movable
walls will isolate the individual stations in other experiments to permit running several sub jects simu Itaneously and without interaction.

Several options are available to enhance
the uti lity of the 340 Display: 370 Light
Pen, 347 Sub-Routine Option, 342 Character Generator, and the 343 Slave Display option.

Harvard University wi II also be using the 340 Display with the PDP-4 for psychological studies.
Computer-Aided Design
The general-purpose experimenta I display system for the U. S. Army Signal Corps is
based on the PDP-4 and the 340 Display. The new system can display and modify information generated by a second computer or it can function independently. The information appears on a 17-inch cathode ray tube enabl ing the operator to respond by
using several types of console controls.

Information stored in the memory of the

PDP-4 is presented on the 340 as dots, lines, curves, characters, or shapes. The

370 Light Pen - The 370 Light Pen is a
high-speed photo sensitive device that permitsthe display operator to establisha reference in the computer program to a specific displayed point on the screen.
347 Sub-Routine Option - The 347 SubRoutine Option perm its the display to jump
in and out of sub-routines with in its spec ified data table. Thus, repeated patterns
need be stored only once in the data table
and can be displayed via a sub-routine at
different locations on the screen.

operator can generate new information or modify that already in memory with push
buttons, knobs, a typewriter keyboard, and a rotating ball added to the display
console.
. "=

l'ti

new controls can execute a variety of functions, depending on the roles assigned

them by the operating program being used in the computers. The rotating ball,

recessing in the console, can turn indefinitely in any direction, greatly extending
the movement capabi Iities of joysticks and other lever-I ike devices used earl ier with
displays. The keyboard permits the operator to feed in text without returning to the

342 Character Generator 0 p t ion - The
342 Character Generator generates the display of one of 64 a Iphanumeri c characters
from each unique combination of a 6-bit
code. This vastly reduces display storage
and memory access time requirements.
343 Slave Display Option - The 343 Slave
Option permits up to l6slavedisplaystobe
driven by the Master 340. Each slave has
independent intensity and Iight pen control.

REMINDER TO ALL DECTAPE USERS
From: Don Vonada, DEC

PDP-4 console typewriter. Changes to the Type 340 logic extend its subroutingcapability, permitting a subroutine
hierarchy to define pictures in much

DECtape Program Timing

the same way that the subrouti ne

The nominal tolerance between flags when
tape is m 0 vi n g in the forward direction
(direction in which the timing and mark information is written) is ~ 10%. However,
when tape moves in reverse the timing
varies as much as :!:30%.

hierarchy of a programm ing system
would function on a general-purpose
computer. The system inc ludes the
PDP-4, perforated tape reader,
high-speed data multiplexer, ad-

The reason is the drive motors run at a constant speed. Thus, as tape winds on to the
reel, the effective diameter of the reel
changes, w hi chi n turn effects the tape
velocity.

dress and save registers for the display, control and status circuits for
the interface with a second computer
and Digitalis High Speed Light Pen.

The timing information is placed on tape at
discrete intervals of time; therefore, when
writing the timing information, the physical
separation between timing marks increase
as tape is moved from one end to the other.
The 10% tolerance accounts for motor speed
variations. When the tape is used in a
direction opposite to the direction in which
the tim in g information was written, the
highest tape speed occurs where the timing
marks are more closely spaced. This, in
con junction with the motor speed variation,
accounts for the 30% tolerance. For example, if a flag is expected to occur every
200 j-Isec, under w 0 r s e case conditions,
the flag cou Id occur in 140 j-Isec.

The 340 Display for the Signal Corps

The PDP-5 computer and 340 Incremental Displayat the Signal and Information Processing Research Department of the Bell Telephone Laboratories at Murray Hill, New
Jersey will form the heart of a new interaction system which will be used both to
enter and to receive graphical data in the Laboratories l Computing Center. This
interaction system will have access to the main computational facilities between
normal problem runs.
A core buffer wi II be used to store output information for display on the scope and
to receive new input information so that the display system functions independently
between interactions. The PDP-5 computer monitors the display operation and alslcontrols a Type 370 High Speed Light Pen for use in entering ormodifying data. Til

MODULES AND EXPERIMENTS
He Iping farmers market better qua Iity asparagus at a lower cost is the goal of an experimental harvester development program
being conducted by the Agricultural Engineering Department at Rutgers, The State
University, in New Brunswick, N. J.
The harvester is pu lied behind a tractor,
automatically selecting and cutting the
stalks that are ready and leaving less mature ones for another day. Digita I's System
Modu les so Ived the prob lem of cutter head
positioning posed by variations in the speed
of the tractor.
FLIP CH I P Modu les are being used in place
of electromechanical logic devices to program behavioral research experiments at
the university. The FLIP CHIPs and their
accessories are being used by Dr. David
Lester (Center of Alcohol Studies) to build
special circuits for operant conditioning
experiments in which sub jects are rewarded
for properly responding to various stimuli.

purpose of the system is to allow quick looks at graphs, diagrams, and other information and to facilitate the rapid interchange of information between problems.
Other elements of the system are Digitalis Type 137 Analog-to-Digital Converter
and Type 451 A Card Reader and Control.

General Purpose

I/o

Device

The University of Western Australia will be using the 340 Display with the PDP-6 at
their computation center to control and collect data from laboratory equ ipment connected directly on line at the same time the computer is performing its normal computing service. Working from individual teletype sets connected from remote sites
to the PDP-6, severa I persons wi II be able to use the machine at the same time for
calculations. The display and light pen will provide a fast man-machine communication channel which will be used on a variety of research projects at the university,
inc luding work in molecu lar structure, psychology, and mathematics.

The 340 Scope Display is being used with the PD P-1 at United Aircraft Corporationls
Research Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut. The display has been somewhat

Earl ier test apparatus used stepping switches,

modified to better suit UACls needs. A 2,000 word, 18-bit buffer memory is used."

re~ays, and similar electromagnetic, elec-

store the display data and to maintain the scope display.

tromechanical logic devices. Advantages
in replacing this equipment with solidstate modules are more flexibility and reliabilityand the elimination of relay chatter and other noise which often affected
the sub ject as we II as the, experimenter.

Data in this memory ~~

be modified while a display is in progress. A new scope mode (jump mode) allows
the display address counter to be set or changed.
The light pen system and the ab i Iity to read the scope X or Y coord i nates (10 bits)

THE SOC
TIME-SHARING

part two: service routines & applications

CVCTE:M
4JI4IJ
..

Reprinted with permission from
Datamation
December, 1964

by JULES I. SCHWARTZ
With the commands and functions discussed so far, a
user can load, run, and debug programs, as well as have
other miscellaneous services performed. It is, of course,
necessary that numerous other services also be provided. The functions described so far were performed
entirely by the executive system. The object programs
were considered to be just code running in response to
basic commands. However, the techniques for providing
additional services are actually accomplished through the
use of object programs. Object programs can be written
to provide other necessary services; such programs are
called service routines. Since service routines are object
programs-and there is no limit to the number or kind of
object programs that can be used-there is in effect no
limit to the number of services that can be provided.
Service Routines for Producing Object Programs. In
some respects, the most common technique for producing
object programs is similar to that used in standard computing installations. The program is written in a symbolic
language, stored on a magnetic tape (or disc), and then
compiled. The output of the compilation is a binary
program-in this case compatible with the executive
LOAD command-and a listing. When the symbolic programs require modification, the necessary changes, deletions, and insertions are made by using the tape (or disc
file) that contains the program, and a new tape (or disc
file) is prepared.

File Maintenance
The preparation and maintenance of symbolic tapes and
disc files is done with the service routine called FILE.
The functions of the routine FILE are:
• Generate Symbolic Files. Symbolic files may be stored
on tape or disc from teletype inputs or through the
card-reader.
• Update Symbolic Tape Files. Symbolic files may be
updated on-line without destroying the original file.
D sing the update feature, lines may be inserted,
deleted, or replaced via the teletype.
• Merge Symbolic Tape Files. An additional feature
of the tape update portion of FILE allows files
from a second tape to be merged with files of a first,
base tape. The file to be merged ·may be inserted
at any point within a file on the first tape.
• Print Symbolic Tape Files. Symbolic files or parts
thereof may be listed either on the user's teletype
or on an output tape for later printing off-line. This
feature may also be used to make extracts or duplicates of symbolic tapes.
.Survey Symbolic Tapes. To review the contents of a
symbolic tape that contains a number of files, the
·user may wish to survey the tape. A request for this
operation will cause FILE to search the tape and to
print the first «n" lines of each file on the user's teletype.
Compilers
There are several compilers available in this system. The
December 1964

JTS compiler was designed to provide JOVIAL and
SCA.MP (machine language) compilations under the timesharing system. JTS accommodates a subset of the JOVIAL J-2 and J-3 languages as well as a subset of
SCAMP.- The compiling function of JTS can be performed
on-line, in a sense, if the user wishes to wait at his teletype and review any coding errors that JTS outputs
on the teletype. In addition, the user can operate his
object program immediately after successful compilation.
The binary object program produced by JTS is on a tape
that conforms to the format requirements for system loading. The user can specify the type of program listing to
be output on his listing tape.
A second compiler available to users is called SCMP.
It has the same operating characteristics as JTS; however,
the language it compiles is the complete SCAMP.
Other compilers, including SLIP and LISP, are either
available or are being implemented.
IPL-TS
A somewhat different scheme is prOvided by the service routine IPL-TS. In this case, the object program
(coded in IPL-V), prepared through use of FILE, is
assembled by this service routine. The assembled program is then made part of the IPL-TS syste·m, which can
be saved (on option) and later reloaded with the LOAD
command. When it has been loaded, the program may
be executed interpretively by the IPL-TS service routine.
This routine also provides a great number of on-line
checkout aids to the user during execution of his program.
The service routines and techniq.ues discussed so far
permit users to produce and modify both small and large
programs in a manner analogous to other kinds of computer systems although they are generally controlled online. Techniques more appropriate to time-sharing systems are also available for producing, checking out, and
running programs. These techniques provide the capability
for coding and executing programs on-line (at the teletype) without going through the various independent steps
necessary in the file and compile process. The service
routines now available for this purpose are called TINT
and LIPL.
With TINT, one may program in the JOVIAL language; LIPL provides the ability to program in the IPL-V
language. In both routines, execution is done interpretively, providing many on-line debugging and communication
aids that are not available when executing a binary program in the normal fashion. The general description of
these programs is as follows:
TINT was developed to provide a vehicle for on-line
coding and execution of JOVIAL programs. The applications of the on-line interpreter are:
• Program composition
• Debugging and editing
• Rapid formulation and computation
Functions
• To accept, perform legality (grammar) checks on,
51

SDC TIME-SHARING ...
and interpret statements to a given subset of the
JOVIAL language.
• To permit execution of all or part of small JOVIAL
programs.
• To permit dynamic input of variables to a JOVIAL
program that is to be executed.
• To permit dynamic output of results obtained
through execution of a program.
• To permit on-line symbolic corrections to be made
to existing code.
• To permit storage of symbolic code composed with
TINT and then transferred to tape so that it may
later be compiled or re-executed interpretively.
Fig. 10 shows an example of a small TINT program as
coded and executed on-line.
The IPL-TS interpreter described earlier also permits
the programming and execution of on-line coded pro-

routines \vhose functions range from information retrieval
to tape copying.

applications
Thus far this article has described the characteristics
and capabilities of the time-sharing system in use in the
Command Research Laboratory. The system has been in
Fig. 11. Example of a LlPL Program
LlPL-READY
RT SO = (AO 10MO 109-3 nOOl 9-3 = (40HO J75 J71,J15l)
AO
(lIMO J50 lOMO J68 lOPO 709-5,9-1 J60 709-6 I2HO 6IMO
5IMO,9-2 J60 709-3 I2HO 52HO I2MO J2 709-2 30HO,9-I)
9-3 = (30HO AO 70 (108.0 2IMO,9-l3,9-4)
9-4
(40MO 51WO 20MO,J30l 9-5
(J4,9-4) 9-6
(108.0 21MO,9-4)
DT PO = (Q $RED$ $WHITE$ $BLUE$ $GREEN$) MO = (0 Cl C2 C3 C4 C5 C6)
C4 = (0 Cl C3 C5 C6) C5 = (Q
Cl C4 C6)
C6 = (Q Cl C2 C3 C4 C5) NL GT SO

=

=

=

=

Fig. 10. Example of a TINT Program
$
$
$
$
$

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

"THE EUCLIDEAN ALGORITHM"
"GIVEN TWO POSITIVE INTEGERS A AND BJ/
"FIND THE GREATEST COMMON DLVISOR"
S1. READ A,B;
X == A; Y ==B;
$
S2. IF X EQ Y;
$
BEGIN PRINT 30H(THE GREATEST COMMON
DIVISOR OF),
$ 8 A,3H(AND),B,2H(lS),X;
$ 9 GOTO Sl; END
$ 10 IF X LS Y;
$ 11 BEGIN Y == V-X; GOTO S2; END
$ 12
X == X-Vi GOTO S2;
$PRINT COMPLETE
$ENTER COMMAND
?EX
A == ? 1024
B ==? 512
THE GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR OF 1024 AND
512 IS 512
A == ? 234
B == ? 86
THE GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR OF 234 AND
86 IS 2
A ==? 234
B ==? 84
THE GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR OF 234 AND
84 IS 6
A == ? 234
B == ? 82
THE GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR OF 234 AND
82 IS 2
A == ? 234
B == ? 80
THE GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR OF 234 AND
80 IS 2
A == ? 234
B ==? 78
THE GREATEST COMMON DIVISOR OF 234 AND
78 IS 78

grams. In this case, the technique is analogous to that
used in programming off-line (using tape input) except
that the code is assembled from teletype input. Also, with
this routine, programs prepared with the FILE program
and assembled from tape can be modified by program
input on a teletype. A brief example of a LIPL program is given in Fig. II.
A number of other routines exist and are being written
for use in the SDC time-sharing system. These include

S4

C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6

0232254
0236814
0236869
0236814
0236869
0236848

21
21
21
21
21
21

RED
WHITE
BLUE
WHITE
BLUE
GREEN

An IPL-V "map-coloringJ/ program, written and executed on-line
under time-sharing in Linear IPL (LlPL). * This program determines the colors of all countries (symbols C 1 to C6) on a map
(list MO) such that no adjacent countries are colored alike.
The six-country map for this example is configured as follows:
C 1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6
*LlPL was written by Robert Dupchak of the RAND Corporation.

operation since June 1963, after an initial development
of approximately five months. Currently it is operating
eight hours a day and is virtually the only means for
u~ing the comput~r during the day in the Command Research Laboratory.
Of some interest are the numerous and diverse applications of the system. These serve to show the possibilities
offered by the present and relatively young system as
well as to point out the large range of applications and
services that a powerful concept such as time-sharing can
provide. A list of some of the current applications in the
Command Research Laboratory follows:
• Natural Language Processors-used for parsing English sentences, answering questions, and interpreting
sentence-structured commands.
• Group Interaction Studies-in which teams of players
are matched against each other, and in which the
computer is used to measure individual and team
performance.
• General Display Programming-in which the programs are used as vehicles for generating and modifying visual displays according to the user's keyboard
inputs.
• Simulated Command Post-a realistic simulation of
a command post has been produced, and such problems as the display requirements for this organization
are studied within this framework.
• Hospital Control-the data for a ward of hospital
patients is maintained and retrieved through the
system, with access from stations in the hospital.
• Text-Manipulation-a sophisticated text-manipulation
program has been developed.
• Police Department Crime Analysis-using some of the
techniques found in the studies of natural-language
DATAMATION

comprehension, reports of crimes are compared with
a complete history of criminal reports to establish
patterns and isolate suspects.
• Personnel File :Maintenance-personnel records of
SDC are maintained and accessed during the timesharing period.
comments and prospects
The results of the first year's use of the SDC timesharing system have been encouraging. A considerable
amount of work has been accomplished using it, a great
deal has been learned about the problems of time-sharing,
and a number of applications have had a great deal of
exercise which could not have been attempted with more
traditional computing center techniques.
The actual development of the system has been in
roughly four stages, the first three of which lasted about
six months each. These stages are:
• Design and Checkout of the Initial System-During
this per~od the emphasis was on the executive system, with only a slight effort in designing service
routines.
• Initial Use of the System-The main concern during
this period was making the system "stay alive." (It
frequently didn't, causing numerous frustrations and
feelings of ill will toward time-sharing). The majority
of users during this period were members of the
Time-Sharing Project who were writing and checking out service routines. A few of the applications
systems were begun during this period. The number
of services and conveniences for the user were minimal. The system was in operation between two and
four hours a day.
• Full-Scale Use of the System-During this period, the
time-sharing period operated eight hours a day. A
large number of applications were programmed,
checked out, and used. The set of service routines was
expanded, and the ones that existed were sharpened
considerably. A number of the "little annoyances" of
the system were eliminated, and in general the system was made much more reliable and easier to use.
During these three periods, a large number of changes
to the equipment was made. Probably a significant
change was made on the average of once every six
weeks. This, of course, did not aid the reliability of
software or hardware.
• The Future-We are currently in the fourth phase of
this system. Changes to hardware should be relatively
few now, so that the software emphasis can be on
improvements; there are seemingly an infinite number of improvements possible. They range from s.uch
ideas as telling the user his program's status and
the time of day when he asks for them to improved
executive input-output buffering schemes and techniques which permit a user instantaneous access to
a network of programs on other computers as well
as the Q-32. (There is currently a list of over 50 such
items waiting for implementation).
The fact tnat so much remains to be done might lead one
to the conclusion that the concept has not been very satisfactory. On the contrary, we can probably say that our
experience so far with time-sharing has proven quite satisfactory, and the true potentials of such a system are
now becoming clear and realizable.
When "discussions" of time-sharing (and on-line computer usage) are conducted there is generally agreement
on the use of the concept for a number of applications,
but there is considerable debate concerning the "economics" of it-whether more traditional computer systems
make more efficient use of the computer. Like many such
questions, the answers cannot be found easily. Time-shar-

December 1964

ing permits many runs on a computer and instantaneous
response to all users. It also encourages techniques which
are quite valuable but not practical otherwise (e.g., solutions by trial and error, use of displays, on-line debugging,
single-shot retrieval of information, etc.). In some respects, it makes excellent use of a computer. For example, since there is almost always "something" going
on, time to mount and demount tapes is never wasted
time.
On the other hand, it can be pointed out that in the
"worst case" of time-sharing today-where big programs
must be swapped frequently-the efficiency of time-sharing
is low. (This applies primarily to efficiency of throughput,
not response time, which is another measure of timesharing efficiency). For certain kinds of programs-those
which require long periods of compute time and where
human interaction cannot help the process-time-sharing
is of no direct value. 4 Time-sharing and on-line computer
use tends to discourage or make difficult retrieval of
large quantities of printed output. Although time-sharing
assists man-machine interaction by letting users use the
computer on-line, it also frequently requires humans to
be present at jobs they would be quite happy to let run
without them.
In the system at SDC, certain of these arguments are
recognized. However, at the present time, they do not
represent serious difficulties. The throughput and response
time for the system are quite adequate for a reasonably
heavy load. If the capacity of the system were to be increased (primarily by increasing the size of the drums),
there seems little question that, without considerable improvements in the system, the economic factors would be
more serious. Thus, although we have been able to tolerate
a close to "worst case" scheduling mechanism in the early
phases, areas of un overlapped swap and input-output will
have to be eliminated with a larger average load. Also,
the running of programs in a "background" fashion, so
that humans aren't required and long computations don't
unnecessarily degrade the system, is an item of high priority in the future.
In conclusion, one can view the present system and the
experience so far and have a great feeling of optimism
for the future. Emphasis from now on will be in areas
that will stress significant improvement in the techniques
and tools available to the user. The problems of ha.rdware
modification, hardware and software reliability, and others
due to lack of experience or haste in production are
diminishing. Even with these various areas of growing
pains, a surprising amount has been accomplished.
Time-sharing seems to hold a key to much that has
been bothering the computer using community. The computer can be brought close to the user. Problems not
heretofore solvable can be pursued. The problems of
economy in some areas are better now with time-sharing,
and in others no impossible problems seem to exist. Largescale use of computers on-line seems to be with us to stay.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
This Bibliography contains additional information about the System
Development Corporation Time-Sharing System.
1. Rosenberg, A. M. (ed.) Command Research Laboratory User's Guide.
SDC TM-1354 Series, November 1963.
2. Schwartz, J. I., E. G. Coffman, Jr., and C. Weissman. A GeneralPurpose Time-Sharing System. SDC SP-1499, 29 April 1964.
3. Schwartz, J. I., E. G. Coffman, Jr., and C. Weissman. Potentials of
a Large-Scale Time-Shoring System. To be published in the Proceedings
of the Second Congress of Information System Sciences, November
1964. (Also available as SDC SP-1723.)
*There is the possibility that the compute time can be cheaper when
shared than when alone.

55

are available. A simple pointer circuit has been added to aid in light pen selection

NEWS

of one of several curves on the scope.

Un iversity of Bonn

On a light pen stop, the pointer can be read

to directly identify the curve.
The character mode appears to the programmer exact Iy as character generator option.
The data for each character is, however, stored in this buffer memory.
acter can be any tabie of scope data.

Each char-

The exception being that the first escape bit

signals the end of character. A dispatch table is also stored in this memory to route
concise code to its proper data.

Both character data and dispatch table can be

loaded by each user to make a very flexible character generator.
The display is largely used as another input/output device for a real-time flight
simulator, as output curves and numerical data are displayed. This can be mixed

ITEMS

University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany has
ordered a PD P-6 to be used in the contro I
of a Precision Encoding and Pattern Recognition (PEPR) System.
This system will include the PDP-6, 2 core
memories, 16,384wordsea., Data Channel
Type 136, Mag Tape Contro I Type 506-521,
DECtape Transport 555, DECtape Control
Unit 551, Type 340 Display w/light pen,
Mag Tape Transport, Card Reader and Control, Line Printer and Control, 630 Data
Commun ication System for t h r e e stations
uti lizing console typewriter and two additional teleprinters Type KSR 33.

with a TV display for pilot viewing. Curves which are used as data for the simulation can be modified with the Iight pen. The PDP-1 and Type 340 scope display make

University of Michigan

a very flexible simulation tool.

The University of Michigan's Space Physics
and High Altitude Laboratories have ordered
a Telemetry Data Conditioning System from
Digital Equipment Corporation for use in
data format conversion.

ACCELERATED RADIX DEFLATION ON THE PDP-7 AND PDP-8
By: Donald V. Weaver, Consultant, New York City, New York
These are typical programs by the improved method of accelerated radix deflation.
An explanation of the mathematical basis is tobe provided in the writeupof this note:

Program For 6-Bit Code on PDP-7
. dbin, 0
dae
and
ell
rar
dae
rtr
add
add
and
dae
ell
rar
dae
rtr
add
ema
add
ema
add
jmp

T,
T2,
T3,

A,
AB,

I ABC in 6-bit code
T 1(64A+B)64+C
A
rtr
I 8
T3

Program for 4-Bit Code on PDP-8
DBIN, 0
IABC in BCD code
DCA, T
TAD T 1(16A+B)16+C
AND A
CLL RAR

DCA T2 I 8
TAD T2

I 2
T3
T
AB
T2
rtr

110
I (74A+B)64+C

164
/ 8

T3
T3
T2

I 2

RTR

TAD
TAD
AND
DCA
TAD

T2 110
T
AB 1(26A+B)16
T2 116
T2

CLL RAR

1 8
124

1 2
110

RTR

154
1-54(74A+B)

CIA
TAD T
JMP I DBIN

TAD T2

T
IlOOA+lOB+C
i dbin

o
o

T,

0

T2,

0
7400
7760

A,

The system wi II preprocess ana log data recorded during rocket and balloon flights.
The laboratories are carrying out the work
under the sponsorship of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard
Space Flight Center. In operation the system wi II sample, at intervals selected by
the operators, data from 10 analog channels
and one time code translator channe I, convert the samples into binary digital values,
group them in a buffering memory area, and
then write them on a second magnetic tape
transport.
The system is built around Digitalis new
PDP-8 computer, a general- purpose machine with integrated circuits, a 1.6microsecond memory cyc Ie time, and mu 1tiple auto-indexing registers.
Professional Data Services

1 6
1-6
Ibinary value
in AC

o

AB,

770000
777700

IFigure is 23 words, 50-mierosecs.

Professiona I Data Services of Ann Arbor,
Michigan has purchased a PDP-5 for use in
several commercial data processing assignments.
Some of the first applications will be drug
store inventory control, plumbing contractor
parts analysis, accounting, end an engineering service uti Iizing FORTRAN programming. The PDP-5 at Professional Data
Services will include a 4096 memory and
the console tape teleprinter.

IFigure is 26 words, 56 mierosees.
Fort Devens To Use Digita I Logic Kits

t"

lrief comment on the mathematical model may help in interpreting the code al"'ough the algebra proves itself.
It is based on the factoring formu la,
X2 _ y2

= (X + Y)

(X - Y)

and might be called a Fermat-I ike method.

Thirty-one Logic Kits to train maintenance
personnel in electronic computer techniques
have been delivered by Digital Equipment
Corporation to the United States Army at
Fort Devens in Ayer I Massachusetts.
The kits enable instructors and students to

perform classroom demonstrat ions and Iaboratory experiments wit h s u c h comp~ter
elements as up and down counters, shift
registers, decoders, and arithmetic registers. They are b u i I t around solid-state
circuit modules which can operate at frequenciesupt0500 kilocycles. Themodules
are packaged in plug-in aluminum cases
for mounting in panels supplied with the
kits. Stacking patch cords, power cords,
and power supplies are also included.
At Fort Devens, each kit will contain an
inverter, a diode NOR, four flip-flops, a
delay, a c lock, pulse generator, power
supply, mounting panel, and cords.

"SUPERDECIMAL" DATA BYTES ON THE PDP-7
By: Donald V. Weaver, Consultant, New York City, New York
Three-place decimal numbers, represented in the accumulator of PDP-7 by a set of,
three, 6-bit digit-codes, can be converted into true binary numbers readi Iy by pro~
grams built on the multiply-ten model, "xorll to unpack, and scale right.
A minimum-space edition of such a program could be
dbin: 0, dac T, and BC, jms sbr, dac T, and C, jms sbr, jmp i dbin,
using masks C=77, BC=7777 and call ing a subroutine "sbr" to unpack, scale right, and
sum on successive digits in the polyval tradition,
sbr: 0, dac T2, xor T, cll rtr, rar, dac T, rtr, add T, add T2, imp i sbr,
so that the space/time figure for the program is 22 words/77 microseconds. Faster time
isobtained by straight-line coding in 26 memory registers, execution time 63 microseconds.

Eight In/Out Stations Added to TimeSharing SDC Net
System Development Corporation of Santa
Monica, California has ordered additional
communication subsystem equipment from
Digital for use in expand ing its time-sharing
computer system.
The new equipment wi II be used to enlarge
the Type 630 Data Communication Subsystem, permitting the addition of eight remote or local on-line Teletypes or typewriters, making a total of 43 channe Is.
Malo rei em e n t s 0 f the system are an
AN/FSQ-32 computer serving as the central processor, Digitalis PDP-1 computer
control Iing real-time inputs and outputs for
the centra I processor, drums providing a
half-mi II ion words of program storage capacity, a disc providing an additional four
million word capacity, and 16 magnetic
tape transports.
In addition to 35 user keyboard-printers,
the input/output sub s y s t e m inc ludes six
cathode ray tube displays and data hand ling
equipment for use by eight subscribers at
distant locations.
One such 10 cat ion was in Copenhagen,
Denmark, during the Wodd Health Organization's recent conference on information
processing and medic ine. In what is beIieved to have been the longest span between a computer and an on-line user,
physicians attending the meeting saw several demonstration programs in ten d e d to
dramatize the capabi Iities a time-sharing
computer can provide in an on-line medical data processing system.
More than 100 persons now use the SDC
system, many of whom are from some 12
organ izations outside of SDC. It has been
opel'Oting on one shift since January 1964.
The goa I of the pro ject, sponsored by the
Advanced Research Pro jects Agency of the
Defense Department, is to study methods of
employing "public utility"-like systems to
maximize the help computers provide sci-entists and engineers and to minimize the
cost of usi ng them.

This program is completely modular. It serves as a callable function implementing the
reception of multi-word-Iength input data, floating point and the like, and particularly on binary tape.
The input code may be IBM or ASC-II code, for example. Because ASC-II code
"Iooks binary" to the high-speed reader it sluffs channels 7 and 8 and will assemble
a data tape prepared in proper format into three-digit words of "excess 60 11 character
codes (octa 160 to 71) representing the decimal digits 0 to 9. Zone bits may be tested
before erasing, and acceptable data words are delivered to the conversion program.
The conversion program in turn delivers successive outputs to the main program in a
BINARY-CODED SUPERDECIMAL mode, and the main program may now direct the
Processor to proceed in a simple way to transform these high-radix data, serially if
desired into a single, full binary value.
Modularity works in both directions. The basic conversion program with new mask(
and "cll rtr" deleted inthesubroutine, is turned into a program that processes decimal
numbers packed in condensed 4-bit BCD code. The PDP-7 accumulator can take
longer bytes of the condensed code, and the new program may be adapted to this
broader coverage by an initial insert of three instructions, IIdac T, and ABC, ims sbr"
with unpack masks ABC=7777, BC=377, C=17 to process four-digit BCD-coded numbers. A space/time figure for the four-digit program is 24 words/11 0 microseconds.
Conversion programs built on the standard multiply-ten model, are evidently quite
adaptable, and while somewhat longer they are older and more familiar to programmers
than the newer method of ACCELERATED RADIX DEFLATION.
Some coded programs on the radix deflation method are therefore given in the reference.
As a typical example, using accelerated radix deflation (in contrast to normal radix
deflation, DECUS No. 5/8-7, December 1964 DECUSCOPE, p. 5) one can generate
a program for the PDP-7 with a space/time figure of only 21 words/46 microseconds
to convert three-digit numbers in condensed 4-bit BCD code; and an accelerated program to convert 6-bit code has a figure of 26 words/56 microseconds.

The method of accelerated radix deflation operates straight-I ine within a basic unit of
three digits. It may be extended to four digits by normal radix deflation, or it may be
iterated on the odd integers to cover five, seven or more digits if register action makes
suc h bytes feas ib Ie.

u,

Some of the differences in implementing the method on PDP-7 and PDP-8 are indica~d
in the reference. It will be noted that three-digit conversion on the PDP-8 is
50 microseconds and other figures are substantially improved over those given I'n
December DECUSCOPE.
NOTE: The names SUPERDECIMAL and BINARY-CODED SUPERDECIMAL and their
commerc ial appl ication to data processing are the property of the author.

INFORMATION DISPLAY SYMPOSIUM

On-Line Computing Systems Symposium

The Society for Information Display wi II hold its Fifth National Symposium ~m Information Display at the Hotel Miramar, Santa Monica, California on February 25 and
26, 1965. Subjects for papers are:

A three-day symposium on a new kind of
data processing wi II be he Id on February 2,
3, 4, 1965 at Schoenberg Hall, University
of California. The symposium isbeing presented by the Department of Engineering
and UC LA computing Facility and Engineering Extension, University of California Extension, Los Angeles, in Coopeiotion w·ith
Informatics, Inc.

Displays in Space
Displays in the Post -1970 Era
Displays in Simulation
Business, Industrial and Educational Displays
Papers Chairman: R. L. Kuehn, 1831 Seadrift Drive, Corona del Mar, California
PDP-7 and PDP-4 PROGRAM COMPATIBLE
With FORTRAN II (8K) working as the first PDP-7 was delivered in December, many
of the programming problems of a new computer were already past. The PDP-7 library now includes a number of the most usefu I arithmetic and input/output routines
as well as a full set of diagnostic and maintenance programs. Also part of the PDP7 library is the Assembler, Editor (on PDP-4 called Canute), and the DDT (Digital
Debugging Tape) which permits rapid computer-aided program checking. FORTRAN
II will soon be ready for PDP-7 users on DECtape (Digital's microtape system), thereby making a load-and-go FORTRAN possible. DECtape reads and writes the redundantly recorded magnetic tape at speeds of 15,000 characters per second. Units
as small as a single word are individually addressed without distrubing adjacent data.
The incorporation of FLIP CHIP all-silicon modules in the PDP-7 does not affect its
program compatabilitywith the 4. With a memory cycle time of 1.75 j-Isec, the PDP7 uses 10 megacycle circuits to perform an addition in 3.5 j-Isec, average mu Itipl ication in 6. 1 fJsec, and average division in 9 fJsec. It uses 18-bit words and directly
address 8192 of a possible 32,768 core memory locations.
Applications of the PDP-7 include an automated computer controlled measurement
system, nuclear research analysis, systems science laboratory, and process control.

Speakers will be: Eugene Amdahl, Walter
F • Bauer, Emi I Borgers, Werner L. Frank,
Harry D. Huskey, Glen D. Johnson, Mar-vin Minsky, Herbert F. Mitchell, C. B.
Tompkins, John Morrissey, Donald Parker,
David Pope, Simon A. Ramo, Arthur Rosenberg, David Savidge, Ivan E. Sutherland,
and Richard Talmadge.
For additional information concerning the
program and enrollment, call or write
Engineering Extension, University of California Extension, Los Angeles, Cal ifornia
90024. Telephone (Area Code: 213) 4789711 or 272-8911, Extension 7277 or 7178:
TWX 213-390-3968.
DECUS Brochure
A DECUS brochure giving fu II detai Is about
the Society and its membership is in the
initial stages of publication. It is planned
to inc lude photos of computer insta Ilations
of several of the DEC US members. If you
would I ike to include your installation,
please send photos to DEC US a s soon as
possible.
Reply Cards
Attached to last month's DECUSCOPE was
a reply card regarding DEC USC OPE distribution. Several cards were returned with~
out the senders name. If you did not receive the proper amount of DEC USC OPES
this month, please contact A. Cossette cit
the DEC US offi ce •
LITERATURE AVAILABLE
PDP-5 Symposium Proceedings
Proceedings of the PDP-5 Symposium held
at Berkeley, California in September are
now being distributed. Copies are available from the DECUS office in Maynard.
Brochures
"630 Data Communication System"
Revised Edition
II

II

Pictured above is the PDP-5 being hoisted onto the Atlantis II. The Atlantis sailed
on January 20th for a nine-month cruise of the Indian Ocean. The PDP-5 ""ill be
used on-line to collect, record and analyze oceanographic data.

Mu Itiana Iyzer Programm ing Handbook"
Mu Itiana Iyzer Spectrometer Control Brochure"

"Laboratory and Educational Modules Handbook" - B100

NEW

DECUS

DEC US PR OGRAM LI BRARY

MEMBERS

Installation Delegates
PDP-4

PDP-5 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS

Mr. Richard J. Clayton
Communications Biophysics Group, RLE
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts

DECUS No. 5-12

PDP-5

Title:

Pack- Punch Processor and Reader for the PD P-5

Author:

Robert L. Becker, Boston College

Mr. John H. Bradshaw
Physics Department
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Abstract: The processor converts a standard binary-format tape into a more compressed format, with two twe Ive-bit words contained on every three Iines of tape.
Checksums are punched at frequent intervals, with each origin setting or at least
every 200 words.

Mr. David C. Coil
Defence Research Telecommunications
Establ ishment
Ottawa, Ontario

The reader, which occupies locations 7421 to 7577 in the memory, wi II load a program which is punched in the compressed format. A test for checksum error is made
for each group of 200 or less words, and the program wi II halt on detection of an
error. Only the most recent group of words will have to be reloaded. Read-in time
is about ten percent less than for conventional binary format, but the principal advantage is that Iittle time is lost when a checksum error is detected, no matter how
long the tape.

Mr. Irving Fisk
Investment Statistics Company
San Francisco, California
Mr. Sidney Gear
General Dynamics/Electronics
Rochester, New York

DEC US No. 5- 13

Mr. James Miller
"Dow Badische Chemical Company
Freeport, Texas

Title:

PDP-5 Assembler

Author:

Anthony Schaeffer, Lawrence Rad iat ion Laboratory, Berke Iey

Dr. Dallas C. Santry
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
Chalk River, Ontario

Machine:

IBM 7094/7044

Mr. Pau I Sternberger
Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Princeton, New Jersey
Mr. Richard Taylor
Bendix Corp. ASTR-6-ST
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsvi lie, Alabama
PDP-6
Mr. William A. Love
Physics Department
Brookhaven Nationa I Laboratories
Upton, New York
Mr. Richard K. Yamamoto
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Laboratory for Nuclear Sc;'ience
C ambri dge, Massachusetts

Language: FORTRAN IV, MAP
Abstract: This program accepts symbolic programs punched on cards and assembl(
them for the PDP-5. An assembly listing is produced, and a magnetic tape is gen- .
erated containing the program. This magnetic tape can be converted to paper tape
and then read into the PDP-5, or it can be read directly into a PDP-5 with an IBM
campatible tape unit. Cards are now available.

Note from the DECUS Programming Chairman - R. McQuillin
For the past several months I have had the opportunity to do programming for the
PDP-5.

This particu lar machine used the high speed reader and punch.

In using

PAL, {The December 1964 version} I have come upon severa I th ings in its operation
that cou Id perhaps be improved upon.

In trying to write a rather elaborate type-

setting system, I have placed all my common symbols and linkages on page zero.
Thus every time I assemble another page, I must merge page zero to the other page,
and then run it through the assembler. It seems as though there are at least two ways

PDP-8

out of all this paper handling.

Mr. G. S. Woodson
Space Physics Research Laboratory
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

PAL Symbol Table directly, punch out PAL at this point, and then have this special
version of PAL avai lable for future use.

Individual Members

all the values stayed constant. Another solution to the problem would be a "pause"

Mr. David Friesen and
Mr. Elhanan E. Ronat
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Laboratory for Nuclear Science
Cambridge, Massachusetts

operator that wou Id cause PAL to stop so another tape cou Id be loaded into the reader.

Mr. Harris Hyman
1 Lyndeboro Place
Boston, Massa c husetts

binary tape regardless of where the program is told to start. This seems to cause the

First: It is unfortunate that we can't read into the

In this way, I cou Id get page zero into the

PAL symbol table once and for all, and I wouldn't need page zero again as long as

Depressing "continue" woul~ cause PAL to clear its input buffer and resume the
assembly. The second proposal is actually equivalent to the first.

A feature of

p,(

that seems unusual is that a "start loading at 200" is always punched out first on the

loader to deposit 0000 in location 200 sometimes.

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT COMPUTER USERS SOCIETY
MAYNARD,

MASSACHUSETTS / TEL.

897-8821 / TWX

FEBRUARY 1965

DECUS
SPRING SYMPOSIUM

1965

710 347-0212

VOL.4- NO.2

•

CONFERENCE
ON DIGITAL COMPUTERS
FOR COLLEGE TEACHERS OF
SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS AND
ENGINEERING
With financial assistance from the National Science Foundation, the University of Southwestern Louisiana will conduct
on its campus its third Conference on Digital Computers for
College Teachers of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering.
This program wi II enable 40 participants (20 beginning, 20
advanced) who are college teachers in the above discipl ines
to acquire training and experience in digital computation
involving high-speed, stored program, electronic computers.
The Conference wi II be in operation from August 16 through
September 6, 1965.
The Conference wi II include:
1.

Two courses for each group: Introduction to Digital Computers and Programming Digital Computers
(beginning); Numerical Analysis for Digital Computers or Statistics for Digital Computers, and Advanced Computer Programming (advanced).
Each course wi II involve dai Iy class meetings of 3
hours each.

Pictured above is the new William James Hall, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts - the site of the 1965
DECUS Spring Symposium.

2.

Computer demonstrations illustrating various facets
of computer operation.

3.

Laboratory participation in computer operation.

4.

Seminars on recent developments in the field of
computation.

5.

Talks and discussions by visiting lecturers.

6.

Informal conferences among participants and staff.

The Conference wi II be conducted by Dr. James R. Oliver,
Dean of the Graduate School and Director of the Computing
Center, University of Southwestern Louisiana. He wi II also
teach and conduct the seminars.
Continued on Page 2
Meeting by just starting out a few days earlier.

Plans are well underway for a very informative and interp,c;ting meeting. Abstracts of papers a Iready received show
,ide variety of sub jects for presentation. If you are plan'rng to present a paper, the dead Iine for abstracts is March 11.
Mrs. Joyce Brad ley, assistant to Dr. Norman, is doing a
fine job of coordinating plans at Harvard. The dot e s of
May 20 and 21 were chosen in order that persons planning
to attend the I NTERDATA 65 Show in New York beginning
May 24 would have the opportunity of attending the DECUS

t

Mr. Harlan Anderson, vice-president of Digital Equipment
Corporation and Professor Steven Coons, Associate Professor
of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology will be among the guest speakers. Highlights of
the two-day meeting wi II inc lude tours and demonstrations at
the Center for Cognitive Studies, William James Ha II,
Pro ject MAC and Adams Associates' foci Iities at Technology
Square in Cambridge.

Conference on Digital Computers Continued
A unique feature of the Conference will be the schedu ling
of seminars on time-sharing. This is expected to be an extremely important deve lopment in computers in the very near
future. Through use of the Digita I Equ ipment Corporation
PDP-6 computer, made avai lable by DEC for the Conference,
and t h r e e remote terminals time-sharing demonstrations,
studies and assignments wi II be inc luded in the Conference.
Application for participation in the Conference wi II be made
on for m s provided by the Nationa I Sc ience Foundation.
The forms and brochures giving fu II detai Is may be obtained
by writing to:
Dr. James R. Oliver
Box 133, USL Station
Lafayette, Louisiana, 70506
The dead Iine for submitting appl ications for partic ipation in
the Conference is March 15, 1965.

WHAT WILL THE WORLD
BE LIKE IN 1975?
Thirty students at the University of Michigan know and are
using their knowledge in an experiment that uses the PD P-l
and 340 Display.
The process of human inference is being studied by Dr. Ward
Edwards and his associates in the University's Engineering
Psychology Laboratory. They have invented a "history" of
the world from the present unti I 1975, a history complete
with economic, political, military and technological details. The experiment takes place on the third Tuesday in
June, 1975, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., ESDT. At that time,
exactly one of six possible hypotheses about the condition
of world affairs can be true. Subjects are given data which
can be used to determ ine the correct hypothesis. However,
since no datum is conc lusive, the sub jects can only be re lative Iy more certain of some hypotheses than others. How
this uncertainty is dea It with is the focus of the experiment.
In one form of the experiment, subjects move sliders calibrated in odds, Iike betting odds, to reflect their changes
in uncertainty I or certainty, about which hypothesis is true.
The PDP-l converts the odds settings to probabilities, and
displays these probabilities as bar graphs on the 340. Thus,
sub jects can see what effects the probabi Iities changes have
in the odds settings. The 340 Display provides instantaneous
feedback to the sub ject on the system's current opinion about
which hypotheses are more likely than others.

PDP-5 AT MENTAL HEALTH
RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Dr. Utall's research group at the University of Michigan.
currently involved in several studies of the samatosenso~
system, psychophysical and physiological, all of which are
controlled by the PDP-5. Much statistical analysis is also
done by the computer. For the purpose of our experiments,
we use, in addition to the PDP-5, various electronic stimulating and recording equ ipment, inc luding t h r e e osci 110scopes and peripheral computer I/O which we have added
to the PDP-5. These additional I/o devices include an
ana log to digital converter, a 0 n e mi II isecond rea I-time
c lock, and a yes-no response key, among others. All these
devices operate on an interrupt basis.
In one experiment, we are studying peripheral nerve action
potentials in the human ulnar nerve. The computer triggers
set patterns of electrical pulses and the resulting nerve responses are recorded on a storage osc i Iloscope. Po laroid
pictures are made by a camera attached to the osc i Iloscope
to enable subsequent study of these responses.
Another of the experiments in which we are currently involved
concerns the effects of stimu Ius patterns on the abi Iity of a
subject to detect a temporal "gap" in that stimulus. This
study is re levant to the coding of nerve messages. The computer sends two series of stimu Ii with a variable break between the two. On the basis of the subject's response as to
whether or not he fe It the break, the break is made longer or
shorter by another variable amount which is calculated on
the basis of the subject's previous responses at the end of a
set number of such responses. A statistical analysis of the
collected data is made by the computer.
A third experiment measures, by means of scalp electrodes,
the brain waves evoked by alternate "shock" and light flash
stimu Ii. Many samples are taken during each response and
many responses are averaged together to screen out random
electrical "noise." For final comparison, the final averages
of the resu Its of the two types of stimu Ii are displayed on a
storage osc i Iloscope separate Iy and then merged together and
displayed. Polaroid photos are taken of the final results.
The last two experiments have been programmed on a timeshared basis to run simu Itaneously.
With the forthcoming addition of a magnetic tape drive to our
system, we intend to expand our experimental program and
increase our time-sharing capabi Iity.
Ac knowl edgement:

Different versions of this experiment requ ire sub jects to estimate Iikel ihood ratios, rather than odds, and a simi lar kind
of feedback is shown on the 340.

I am grateful to Mrs. Madelon Krissoff, Dr. Utall'sassistant,
for her help in preparing this article.

In future experiments involving continuous hypotheses, subjects will express their uncertainty by form ing probabi Iity
distributions over the hypotheses. Parameters of the Beta
distribution will be manipulated on the face of the 340 by
using the light pen, and the resulting distribution will be
displayed on the CRT.
All these experiments wi II shed further Iight on the proper
roles for men and computers in diagnostic systems operating
in the face of uncertainty.
Lawrence Ph ill i ps
Un iversity of M ich igan

Barbara Lamm
University of Michigan
Mental Hea Ith Research
Institute

EDITOR'S NOTE
An article on the PDP-4 at the Behavior Analysis Laboratory,
University of Michigan has been publ ished as an Application
Note and is inc luded as an insert to this issue.

manufacturers, we hope that eventually computer progrOm-

COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
DIGEST

ming systems can pass directly from

0

neuser's group to

another. If there are any questions or comments to th is new
venture, I would be most happy to receive them and to pass

NOTES FROM THE PROGRAMMING CHAIRMAN
On February 4, I attended

0

meeting

0

them along to the proper people at JUG.

f JUG, the joint

Richard J. McQuillin

Users Group of the ACM, in New York City. The purpose
of the meeting was to discuss the establishment of a new
JUG-ACM publication, tentatively called the Computer
Applications Digest. While the plans for such a publication

NEW DECUS MEMBERS
DELEGATES

are still incomplete, it seems probable that the digest will
come out monthly with an annual compendium of the entire

PDP-4

year's transactions.

Wi II iam G. Mc Namara
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
West Mifflin, Pennsylvania

It is estimated that the monthly issues

wi II be printed as inexpensive Iy as possible, perhaps on newspaper stock. These issues wi II be distributed with the newsletters of each user's group, i.e. DEC USCOPE. At the end
of the year, all the monthly newsletters, plus accumulated
entries that did not get into the month Iy issues, wi II be put
together in a bound volume, along with an index.

PDP-5
Dorothy Nelson
Stanford Research Institute
Rad i0 Phys ics Laboratory
Menlo Park, California

The purpose of the Computer Applications Digest is to share

cur~ent computer programming and current computer applications (program system) among the various computer use r
lOUps. Each contribution wi II be written up on a short form
and will be submitted to the editor for that user's group.
Each user group wi II have an editor who wi II pass on all
contributions for that group.

David M. Carlson
Professional Data Services
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Eli Glazer
Brookhaven National Laboratories
Physics Department
Upton, New York

The short form will be similar

to the short form DEC US uses, but written up in such a way
to be usefu I to users of other machines. It is these short forms
t·hat are published, the more detailed documents, tapes,
cards, etc., remaining in the user library.

Requests for

more information wi II be made to the user group editor directly.

C. B. Bigham
Atomic Energy of Canada limited
Chalk River, Ontario, Canada
PDP-7
Ralph R. Fullwood
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
II NAC Laboratory
Troy, New York

The Computer Applications Digest is seen to fill a need in
the computing profession. At present there is precious little
being communicated between users of computers. Certainly
one is hard put to find out what is going on in the computing
fraternity by reading the official publications of the ACM.
It is felt that JUG is in a unique position to sponsor such a
project as the Computer Applications Digest.

Of course,

the success of the endeavor depends on the support of the
individual user groups, such as DEC US. From the point-ofiew of DECUS, this new publication offers a chance to be
in more direct contact with a great many more users, such
as those in SHARE, GUIDE, SDS, etc., and to get recognition for our work in the entire computing community. With
the trend to standardization of languages among computer

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS
J. Marti n Graetz
9 Sycamore Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Robert l. Kusik
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey
M. Sandra Morse
University of Maryland
Baltimore, Maryland

NEWS ITEMS
Applications

LlNC AT WORCESTER FOUNDATION
The Worcester Foundation for Experimenta I Biology at Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, has purchased a LI NC computer for experimentation in its Laboratory of Neurophysiology.
The foundation carries out research and experimentation concerned with the chemistry and physiology of the body. Its
staff numbers approximately 340, with 130 holding the Ph.D.
or M. D. degrees.
LI NC is the Laboratory I Nstrument Computer designed at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and available through
Digital Equipment Corporation. Its development program
was supported by the National Institutes of Health, first at
M.I. T. and now at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Worcester Foundation will use LlNC to investigate electrical nerve messages in the brain which determine behavior.
It will be used with various data gathering apparatus, including the electroencephalograph and other electrical recording devices, to study spontaneous and evoked brain potentials in the cerebral cortex and other brain areas.

As well as being used in conventional signal-recording and
signal-processing applications, it wi II a Iso function as a
monitor of signals from the sensory organs to the brain and
from the brain to the musc les. In these studies it wi II become a functioning part of an actual biological system to
give the researchers more of an insight into how the system
operates. In addition to monitoring the signals, it wi II be
able to delay, diminish, and intensify them or generate artificial ones to let researchers observe their effects.

PDP-7 AT MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
The Psychiatry Department of Massachusetts General Hospital
will be using a PDP-7 computer for cl inical and laboratory
analyses in applications ranging from brain surgery to prc4'
tein crystal studies.
~.
The PDP-7 will be used primarily in on-line experiments,
recording and analyzing data, performing prel iminary evaluations of data to determine its validity for further processing,
and, in some cases, controll ing experimental procedures.
Some of these experiments are an investigation of un it cell
activity in the visual cortex of the brain, electroencephalograph ic analysis of patients with Parkinson's disease, analysis
of endocrine system functions, and locating brain tumors.
The hospital had earlier used the PDP-4 computer. Since
the PDP-7 is program-compatible with the PDP-4, the
special ized programs developed by the hospital, as well as
the general purpose software, can be used on the new machine.
Included in the PDP-7 for Massachusetts General Hospital
will be the processor, 8192-word memory, extended arithmetic element, cathode ray tube display and light pen,
analog-to-digital converter with 8-channel multiplexer control, dual digital-to-analog converters, and a Dual DECtape
Transport and Control.

MODIFICATION TO INTENSITY CONTROL
OF CRBG TYPE 30 DISPLAY

LI NC has a random access core memory of 2048 12-b it words
which cycles in 8 microseconds. Its 16 analog-input channels accept up to 30,000 signals per second, convert them
into digital numbers, and store them in memory. Its 48 instructions perform high-speed mu Itiplication, tape operations,
and other arithmetic and logica I functions.

A modification to correct cond ition of darker levels of intensity being stretched, and brighten levels being compressed
was performed on the Type 30 Display by CRBG personnel
at Ai r Force Cambridge Research Laboratories.

It includes a built-in cathode ray tube display for viewing
signals, a small magnetic tape system for efficient data and
program storage and manipulation, and an input keyboard to
let the user type data and commands directly into the computer.

The original intensity control is performed using three flipflops to give 8 levels of intensity. This is done by equal voltage steps, and unfortunately does not account for nonlinear transfer curves of the amplifier, the CRT, and sight
or film.

BOELL TELEPHONE TO USE PDP-7 FOR CIRCUIT TESTING
Bell Telephone Laboratories 0 f Murray Hi II, New Jersey
wi II be using the PDP-7 for use in development of an automated computer controlled measurement system. The system
wi II be used in loss and phase measurements ranging from 50
cycles to 250 megacycles.
Inc luded with the PDP-7 in this system wi II be a 4096-word
memory, 300-character-per second paper tape reader I 63character-per-second tape pun c h, information collector I
three digital-to-analog converters, control and buffers for
the plotters, device se lector I and output buffers with re lay
drivers.

To compensate for these non-I inear characteristics, a binary
to actual decoder was used to select one of eight fines for
each of the flip-flop states. The over-all effect being that
all eight intensity levels are easily and more readily discernable.
For further information you may contact:
Mr. John Mott-Smith or
Mr. Floyd H. Cook
Synthetic Coding Branch
Data Sciences Laboratory
L. G. Hanscom Field
Bedford, Massachusetts

G-4710

I

~
~

I

(11 '-0

I

•

Iie"!:~a.:,,::· I

.. .......
l--------_

.-.-._-

..\,

I

1

COMPUTER
APPLICATION
NOTE

EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM
GIVES LANGUAGE STUDENT
INSTANT ERROR FEEDBACK

COMPUTER SERVES AS
TEACHING MACHINE
The Behavior Analysis Laboratory of the University
of Michigan is using a general-purpose Programmed
Data Processor-4 (PDP-4) and other equipment built
by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Mass.,
as a teaching machine for a series of speech
ex peri ments.
The research activity in which the system is used is
intended to determine the effectiveness of teaching
accuracy and fluency of expression in a second language by machine. It is the first such program to
give the student instantaneous error feedback from
a machine which performs error discrimination. The
program is directed by Dr. Harlan L. Lane of the
university's Department of Psychology. Roger L.
Buiten is the project engineer appointed to implement the device.
Because it is considered basic psychological research, no cooperative activity has been planned yet.
Initially, the investigators are attempting to learn
only whether such a system can work effectively. If it
can, such applications as language teaching and
speech impairment correction could be pursued with
other departments.
The teaching machine, shown in the accompanying
diagram, is intended to train a student in speaking a
second language properly. He must have studied
the language for a year or two, giving him some
command of vocabularly and grammar. The machine
drills him on the correct intonation, loudness and
rhythm of the spoken words.
The system presents to a student some model
phrases and sentences in a second language in
samples up to a minute long, recorded on tape by a
proficient linguist. The system processes the model
sentence while the student is listening to it. When
he attempts to duplicate the pronunciation and delivery, the meters will show him how his utterance
departs from the model. Simultaneously, the computer calculates a running sum of his errors to determine whether his performance falls within acceptable
limits. Associated circuitry causes the recorder to
replay the sample until he imitates it acceptably.
The project is called SAID, for Speech Auto-Instructional Device. It is based on a three-year research
program at the laboratory to determine how sentence
and phrase construction can be characterized. Pitch,
amplitude and tempo were found to be the only

PDP-4

•

The PDP-4 is an 18-bit computer designed for scientific,
engineering, and process control applications. It performs
l's or 2's complement binary arithmetic at a rate of
62,500 additions per second. Core memory, ranging from
1024 to 32,768 words, cycles in 8 microseconds, giving
it an input/output transfer rate of 125,000 words per
second.

measurable variables. Pitch is a continuously extracted fundamental frequency sampled 500 times
a second. Amplitude is the instantaneous peak voltage of the speech waveform sampled 500 times a
second. The pitch and amplitude extractors were
developed for the program by the university's Communication Sciences Laboratory. Tempo is synthesized by the PDP-4 from the spacing between pulses
generated each time a peak occurs in the average
speech power output. A tempo reading is taken for
each peak amplitude.
The analog-to-digital converter accepts the outputs
of the pitch and amplitude extractors, converts the
values into digital numbers, and presents them to the
PDP-4 computer. It includes a second comparator
circuit, where the input analog voltage is compared
with the trial digital value. The second comparator
permits the converter to perform its own multiplexing
simply and economically. The converter includes
front-panel switches to let the user vary digital word
length from 6 to 11 bits and to vary switching point
accuracy from 98.4 to 99.05 per cent.

Copyright 1965 Digital Equipment Corporation

The PDP-4 accepts pitch and amplitude samples of
the tape-recorded model's parameter contours, timecodes them, synthesizes tempo, and stores enough
samples in memory to reconstruct the contours.
When the student repeats the phrase, the computer
compares samples of his contours with those in
memory and subtracts the curves to generate error
signals. Eight-bit digital-to-analog converters transform the computer outputs to drive the meters.
With sentences on the tape up to a minute long, up
to 2048 registers of the PDP-4's 4096-word memory
are devoted to sample storage. The balance of the
memory holds the program instructions, which can
be varied at will to perform new functions. Another
planned use for the computer is for generating

stimuli in psychoacoustical experiments requiring
precise changes in level, frequency, and timing.
Additionally, it will also be used to analyze and evaluate the results of experimentation throughout the
Behavior Analysis Laboratory.
A special-purpose device could hardly be designed to
perform some of the functions the PDP-4 will handle,
it would lack the versatility of the general-purpose
computer, and it would probably be idle an appreciable time between experiments. The PDP-4, however,
gives the laboratory its own powerful computation
capability, being able to convert quickly, without
hardware changes, from controlling and recording
an experiment to analyzing its results.

PDP-4
PITCH

COMPUTER

AID
CONVERTER

AMPLITUDE

WITH
4096 WORD
MEMORY

The Project SAID teaching machine includes an analog·todigital converter, general-purpose Programmed Data Pro-

cessor-4 computer, and digital-to-analog converters built
by Digital.

5259

PRINTED IN U,S.A,

25-2'65

PDP-4 COMPUTER REDUCES MODULE TESTING TIME 90%
Circuit module testing procedures which take hours to perform manually and minutes with semi-automatic equipment
" 1re reduced to seconds - 50 mill iseconds per dc test I 100
- milliseconds per ac test. All 45 required tests in less than
6 seconds per module.

Programming
PDP-5/8 FORTRAN SYMBOLPRINT and a New Use of the
PAUSE Statement in 5/8 Fortran
From: James Langley, Digital Equ ipment Corporation
II

Fortran SYMBOLPRI NT is a usefu I aid for those who want

to kno\AI \A/here their Fortran program is in interpretive mem-

Key to the Tester·s speed and versatility is the PDP-4 computer. Acting as the control element, it determines the tests
to be made, collects measured information from the Tester,
compares, interprets and distributes it to output devices.

ory, the exact memory locations assigned to each Fortran
variable and the amount and location of interpretive core
memory that is actually unused by a Fortran program;.

The flexible, high-capacity, input-output capabilities of
the PDP-4 enables it to operate in con junction with a variety
of periphera I devices. Complete control is provided for 8
input and 8 output devices which can be readi Iy expanded.
By merely changing its programs, the PDP-4 can handle virtuaHy any automatic checkout procedure.

SYMPNT is loaded over Fortran after compilation and started
at address 600. A typeout such as the following (but minus
•headings·) occurs after some interna I de liberation.
Example output:
Assigned Location

List of Variable Names
This system has been in use at Digital Equ ipment Corporation
to check out DEC·s line of system modu les and the new line
of flip-chip modules.
A brochure giving further detai Is is avai lable.

HW
G
TF
MC
DSR
C1
C2
C3
C4

7546
7543
7540
7535
7534
7531
7526
7515
7504
7470

6312

7241

TB

PROGRAM INPUT

COMMAND

MEASURED DATA

L...-_ _~

GO NO-GO LIGHTS

AUTOMATIC MODULE CHECKOUT SYSTEM

Note that a single word only has been assigned for the fixed
point variable MC.
The last two octal constants typed indicate respectively the
highest address used by the program in interpretive memory
and the lowest address used for data. The area of core between these two addresses is therefore avai lable for use. In
the example there are
7241 - 6312

=

727

octal locations free.
A machine language program may be inserted in this space
and Iinked tot h e Fortran program by using the Fortran
PAUSE statement.
If PAUSE is followed by a number (considered to be DECIMAL), an effective JMS is created to that address.
for example:
iPAUSE 3328
will create, effectively, JMS 6400. At 6400 there
wou Id be something sim i lar to:
SUBR, ~

JMP I SUBR
You can exit from Fortran to machine code and then return
to Fortran. II

BUSINESS PACKAGE" (BUS-PAK II)
By: C. B. Colicelli, Digital Equipment Corporation
Bus-Pak II, in essence, is a new computer language designed for data processing operations. It operates on a
character by character basis and its instructions are powerfu I
and easy to learn and understand. Bus-Pak II offers a variety
of powerfu I programming features such as Editing, Two Modes
of Indexing and Complete Input/Output Control. The BusPak "programm i ng system was deve loped so that many of the
manual record keeping and updating operations could easily
be converted to make use of the PDP-4 or PDP-7 computing
system. Bus- Pak II users need not be aware of a II the computer intricacies. Through the use of the pseudo-language,
one can accompl ish most of the functions of a business oriented computer inc luding the hand Iing of the peripheral inout equipment.

of the end block and effectively read from or write onto it.
If no such action is taken, of course, the tape wi II come to
a stop automatically.

Literature Available
"Data Control Type 136 1l - H-136: Describes installation,
operation, and maintenance of the 136, a programmable
buffer unit through which the PDP-6 processor can control up to six input-output devices.
"Magnetic Testing Application Note No.8 - Protection of
Solenoid Drivers"
II

DECtape Brochure F83{555/552)" is now avai lab Ie through
the DEC Sales Office in your area. The new brochure
is completely revised for the PDP-5/8 and 552 Control.

The manual, which has just recently become avai lab Ie, has
been written so that programmers with minimum experience
wi II be able to learn and understand the Bus Pak " Programming Language.

New Bulletin - F-83(580) - Describes the Type 580 Magnetic
Tape System for the PD P-8 .

Reference may also be made to either the PDP-4 or PDP-7
Assembler write-ups, but is not a necessity.

REPRINTS
"Computers in the Nuc lear Station"

Subroutines and other programs written in machine Assembler
language may be used within a Bus-Pak II program provided
that the programmer saves the accumu lator before execution
of a Bus-Pak " instruction, and restores it when re-entering
the machine language program where necessary.
The Bus-Pak " Programming System will operate on either a
PDP-4 or PDP-7 with the following configurations:

by: C. G. Lennox and N. P. Vakil
Reprinted from Canadian Controls & Instrumentation
The article is a description of a large-scale computer
control experiment at Chalk River and detai Is on the
CDC 363 installation at 200 MW Douglas Point S t ation.

Standard Equ i pment
8K Core Storage
Paper Tape Reader-Punch
Teletype Input- Output and
At least 1 input and 1 output unit shown below
Optional Equipment
Card Reader
Card Punch
Magnetic Tape
DECtape
High Speed Printer
DECTAPE APPLICATION NOTE PDP-5/8
From: Russ Winslow, Digital Equipment Corporation
"Bouncing" Off The End Zone To Read or Write Block 0 or
Block N + 1
When an end zone is encountered (time zero), the DECtape
control behaves as if an MMLM command has been issued
with the contents of accumulator bit 7 a zero. A zero is
forced into the motion flop, status bits 1 and 2 are set, the
error flag is set and a 35 millisecond delay is initiated.
At time zero + 35 mill iseconds when the delay times out, the
contents of the motion flop (O) is forced into the GO flop
and a second 35 mi lIisecond delay is initiated.
At time zero + 70 milliseconds the second delay times out
and the DT flag is set. This is a signal to the program to institute turn around action via an MMMF command. By waiting until this moment (time 0 plus 70 milliseconds) to institute such action, the program is assured that the DECtape
control wi II" open its eyes" in time to read the b lock number

FROM THE DIGITAL PROGRAM LIBRARY
Manual and tapes on the following PDP-7 programs
are avai lable:
Symbolic Tape Editor
FORTRAN" System - 8K
Assembler - Basic and
Extended
DDT - Basic & Extended

(Digital-7-1-S)
(Digital-7-2-S)
(Digital-7-3-S)
(Digital-7-4-S)

Tapes Only:
Teletyp Output Package
Tic- Toc
F laoting Point Package
Master Tape Duplicator

(Digital-7-10-0)
(Digital-7-11-10)
(D i g i ta 1-7-30-A)
(Digital-7-40-U)

Tapes are presently on hand and the write-ups wi" be
ready within the next week or two on the following:
For machines with DECtape:
DECtog
DECtrieve
DECtape Subroutines

(Digital-7-20-10)
(Digital-7-21-10)
(Digital-7-22-10)

For machines with Mag Tape:
Type 57A Compiler

{Digitol-7-45-U}

Software for maintenance:
Teleprinter Input-Output Test
PDP-7 EAE Checker

(Digital-7-50-M)
(Digital-7-58-M)

DECUS PROGRA~' LIBRARY
PDP-5 PROGRAM LIBRARY CATALOG ADDITIONS

Checks are also computed and compared during punching.
There are three modes of operation:
A.
B.
C.

SWITCH,0 ON
SWnCH 1 ON
SWITCH 2 ON

MAKE MASTER TAPE
DUPLICATE MASTER TAPE
VERIFY DUPLICATION

During dupl ication, the program wi II notify the operator
whether or not more copies can be made without re-reading
the master. Binary and symbolic tapes are available.

DECUS NO. 5-14
Title:

Dice Game for the PDP-5

Author:

Edward P. Steinberger, Digital Equipment Corp.

Binary tapes and write-ups are avai lab Ie.

WANTED
Fixed Point Sine/Cosine Subroutine wit h table look-upfaster than 10m i II iseconds - for the PDP-4

DECUS NO. 5-15
Title:

ATEPO (Auto Test in Elementary Programming and
Operation of a PDP-5 Computer)

From:

Rutgers-The State University, Electrical Engineering
Department

Abstract: The program wi II type questions or instructions to
be performed by the operator of the PDP-5 (4K) computer.
The program wi II check to see if the operator has followed
the instructions or has answered the questions correctly. If
this is the case, it wi II type the next question or instruction.

Please contact Jon D. Stedman, UCLRL, Berkeley, Calif.

***********
This space is reserved for you. If you need a subroutine or
program, why not let DECUSCOPE do the work of locating
it for you. Send in your requests to DEC US today!

Characteristics: The starting address of the program is 200(S)'
The program itself uses the locations 200(S) to 500,S)' and

t~

T~e

+he messages
be typed are in 60.0(Sf341.O(S)'
area
.vO(Sf577(8) IS used to store the Rim and Bin loaders while
the program is running. Page Oand the locations above
4000(S) are a IIwork area ll in which all the instructions are
going to be executed, and in which the operator can make
practicallyall kinds of mistakes, because the contents of the
locations in that area are reset after typing any message.
The program requires the Rim and Bin loaders to be in locations 7700
7777 (S) in order to transfer to the "safe area. II

(st

After using the program, the loaders can be returned to their
origina I position by just starting the computer in location
377; it wi II jump to a small subroutine in 3500(Sf3515(S
that wi II make the transfer. The possibi Iity of mistakes tHat
wou Id interfere with the program itself is reduced to practica Ily zero, if the bit
is permanently k e p t (except when
answering question 4) in the position 1. With the exception
mentioned ,above, all of the other solutions can be accomplished with the bit in position 1. For t hat reason, we
strongly r e com men d that a piece of tape, or something
similar, be put over the switch corresponding to that bit
when being used by a n operator without experience, for
whom the program was designed.

°
°

COMPUTER OPTIONS
TYPE lS EXTENDED ARITHMETIC ELEMENT

Henry Burkhardt, Digital Equipment Corporation

The Extended Arithmetic Element (EAE) Type lS is a standard
option for Programmed Data Processor-4 to fac iii tate high
speed mul tipl ication, division, and shifting. The EAE contains an lS-bit register, the Multiplier-Quotient (MQ), a
6-bitregister, the Step Counter (SC), and a 3-bit Instruction
Register. The contents of the MQ are continuously displayed
by indicator lights below the AC indicators on the operator
console.

Abstract: The tape dupl icator for the PDP-5/S is a single
buffered read and punch program uti Iizing the program interrupt. It computes a character count and checksum for
each tape and compares with checks at the end of the tape.

Some EAE instructions require 1 cycle (S microseconds), whi Ie
others allow the SC to specify the number of repetitive operations and require from 2 to 20 cycles. All cycles but the
first are interrupt cycles of a priority higher than Program

DECUS NO. 5-16
Title:
"\uthor:

Tape Duplicator for the PDP-5/S

Interrupt or C lock Counting, but lower than Data Interrupt.
During the extra cyc les, data may enter and leave the computervia Data Interrupt cycles. The EAE instruction will be
delayed if necessary to a Ilow the data transfers.
The EAE conta ins two one-bit sign control registers. The EAE
AC Sign Register may be microprogrammed to contain the
sign of the AC prior to a multiply or divide opertJtion •
The Exc lusive OR ofthe EAE AC sign and the Link are placed
in the EAE Sign Register. The EAE AC sign spec ifies the sign
of the remainder when a divide instruction is complete.
The second sign control register, the EAE Sign Register, is
set up prior to a divide or multiply instruction. It conta ins
the sign of the quotient or product at the completion of the
instruction.
TYPE 143 AUTOMATIC PRIORITY PROGRAM INTERRUPT
The Automatic Priority Program Interrupt Type 143 increases
the capability of Programmed Data Processor-4 to handle
transfers of information to and from input-output devices.
Spec ifically, the 143 identifies the interrupting device directly, withoutsearchingforflags, and it allows a device of
higher priority to supersede an interrupt already in progress.
These functions increase the speed of the input-output system
and simpl ify programming for it. More devices and/or higher
speed devices can be effic iently serviced.

OTHER

EQUIPMENT

FLIP CHIP MODULES
DEC FLIP CHIP modules come in four series, including basi1
0-2 megacycle DTL silicon logic circuits, basic 0-10 mega
cycle silicon circuits and silicon analog-digital units.
FLIP CHIPmodules are oneof three compatible lines of dig ital logic modules manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation. System Modules cover the frequency range 500
megacycles and include many types of circuits to meet virtua lIy every design need. They are described in the System
ModuleCotalog (C-l00). Laboratory Modules are packaged
for frequent handl ing and repeated interconnection. Labelled, front"'pane I jacks make them usefu I for training purposes. They are desc ribed in the Laboratory Modu Ie Catalog (B-1 00).
System and Laboratory modules a re compatible with FLIP
CH I P modu les and with each other. This means that all logic
levels and power supply voltages are the same, and that all
use static logic; that is, each module can operate at any
frequency from zero to its maximum. Modu les of different
maximum speeds can be easi Iy intermixed.
The System and Laboratory Modu Ie Catalogs are presently
available from Digital Equipment Corporation. The FLIP
CHIP catalog will be available in mid-March.

The system contains 16automatic interrupt channels arranged
ina prioritychain. Each channel is assigned a unique fixed
memory location and each in-out device is assigned a unique
channel. The priority chain guarantees that if two or more
in-outdevices request an interrupt concurrently, the system
will grant the interrupt to the device with highest priority.
The program interrupt system may operate in either of two
modes, the Muiti-Illstruction Subroutine mode or The Single
Instruction Subroutine mode. The mode is determ ined by the
instruction in the memory location assigned to the channel.
THE MULTI-INSTRUCTION SUBROUTINE MODE is generally
used to service an in-out device that require:s control information from the PDP-4. Such devices would be alarms, slow
electro-mechanical devices, Teletypewriters, punches, etc.
Each device requires a servic ing subroutine that inc ludes instructions to manipulate data and give further instructions,
such as continue, halt, etc., to the interrupHng device.
The SINGLE INSTRUCTION SUBROUTINE MODE. In some
instances it isdesirable for the PDP-4 to receive information
from an external device, but not send control information to
the device. Such an application would be the counting of
real time clockoutputstodetermine elapsed time. The Single
Instruction Subroutine mode of operation a 1I0ws the incrementing of a counter to take place with a minimum of programm i ng effort.
TYPE 132 CLOCK MULTIPLEXER
The ClockMultiplexer Type 132permitsthe use of 16 memory
registers (40 -57 S) in Programmed Data Processor-4 as lS-bit
S
counters. Maximum combined counting rate is 125,000 per
second. A priority addressing system forall16 counts enables
tl-le multiplexer to handle simultaneous incoming pulses. Each
incoming Standard DEC O.4iJsec pulse is registered in S iJsec .

DECUSCCPE is published monthly for Digital
Equipment Com pu te r Users Society (DECUS),
Maynard, Massachusetts.
Material for DECUSCOPE shou Id reach the Editor
before the 7th day of the current month for publ ication in that issue. Material received after the
7th wi II be considered for publication in the months
following.

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT COMpUTER USERS SOCIETY
MAYNARD,

MARCH 1965

VOI·fNo.3

MASSACHUSETTS /TEL.

897-8821 / TWX

710 347-0212

SYSTEM FOR THE RECORDING,
PROCESSING AND EXCHANGE OF
LIBRARY CARD DATA

By: Lawrence Buckland, Inforonics Inc.
A PDP-1 system has been developed for the recording, processing, and exchange of library cata log data. The purpose
of the development of such a system is twofold: 1) to mechanize some of the manual processes which are performed
presently in I ibraries, and 2) to share digital record of I,ibrary
card data between libraries so that duplication of cataloging
effort is el iminated. These objectives, if obtained, would
save costs which could better be expended elsewhere for improved book collections and reference services.
The PDP-1 system is programmed to process the card cata log
data. Its functions are to:
1. edit and correct recorded data
2. process card data to produce multiple cards in different formats
3. process card data to control automatic typesetting
of cards

i terns on the card must be identified; for exampl e, the author
must be distinguished from the title.
This identification coding is accompl ished by typing the data
in a special format and using the space, tab, and carriage
return codes which position the item in its proper sequence
on the card. Aspecial form can be designed which uniquely
identifies bibl iographic items in this manner. Such a typing format is shown in Figure 1. The advantage of this form
is that skilled typists can prepare data for the system without
special training. With library and other text processing systems such as publ ish ing, the original creation of data often
takes place on a typewriter. If the data encoding is separated from the data generation, the cataloger is prohibited
from encoded data and the additional cost of a second typing is incurred. The items identified in the machine record
are shown in Figure 1 •

4. process data to form magnetic tape catalog fi Ie for
loan and distribution.
One unusual aspect of the pJOcessing is the handling of nonLatin signs and symbols. These symbols are encoded so that
in the output processing they can be typeset on the cards, or
converted to an equivalent symbol printer of lesser symbol
capac ity, or left blank for hand entry.

MAIN ENTRY
TITLE

1

RA

DATA RECORDING
The key idea in the whole system is the recording of data in
machine readable form, because this is the only way to process it automatically. The process of recording in machine
form is an expensive one for it requires accurate typing of
complex bibl iographic text matter. It is estimated that it
would cost 5 million dollars to convert the catalog of the
library of Congress to machine readable form.
The approach mentioned here is to lessen this cost by creating
Jdatarecordingprocesswhich issimilar to the natural typing
of ordinary catalog cards. Th isapproach uses typing which is
more efficient than card punching for recording text with
upper and lower case characters. In addition to encoding
the characters used in the bibl iographic data, each of the

~'M"'~

I

972

r

F58l

iJoint Committee to Combat Staphylococcal
i
Infection.
Control of staphylococcal infections in
:hospitals.liN.Yo, State Dept. of Health, 1958

COLLATION

i48p·I~(--------------------------·

i

1.

Hospitals-Hygiene.
2. Staphylococcal
I. Title. II. New York (State)
I Dept. of Health. (RC1l6.S8)

I disease.

0

5
Figure 1

Input Typing Format

*This paperwas presented at the Spring 1964 Decus Symposium
and published in the 1964 Decus Proceedings.
(Continued on Page 2)

System For Recording Library Card Data Continued
PROCESSING
Once a record of the bibl iographic data is created in machine form, a large number of potentia I uses of the data become feasible. The extent to which the machine record can
be used has not been explored thoroughly, however there are
some immediate requirements.

CATALOG-CARD-PRODUCTION
Existing manual catalog systems produce multiple copies of
catalog cards by manual typing. This can be mechanized by
a simple computer program which selects reformating items
from the card. Figure 2 shows the cards produced by this
program. Each of the trac ings is selected and used as a fi ling
entry at the top of the card.

able tool because itwill fac-ilitate the production and distribution of references to special collections which exist in
many large research Iibraries throughout the country.

GENERATION OF DATA AT CENTRALCATALOG SOURCE
(LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)
The basic recording and processing concept described here
has been applied on an experimental basis to the Library of
Congress. The Library of Congress is the largest Iibrary in
the country. The Library of Congress is anxious to satisfy the
machine readable data needs of others.
The requirements for creating Library of Congress catalog
cards are more elaborate typographically but the same data
recording concept is useful.

(RC116.S8)
RA

U.S.

972
F581

Joint Committee to Combat Staphylococcal
Infection.
Control of staphylococcal infections in
ho~~talS.
N.Y., State Dept. of Health, 1958.
New York (State) Dept. of Health.

68 p. 24 em. (88th Congo lst sess. House of Representatives.
Document no. 54)

RA

972
F581

Presidmt, 1961( Kmnedy)
Program for education. Message relative to a proposed program for education, and a draft bill to strengthen
and improve educational quality and educational opportunities in the Nation. [Washington, U.S. Govt.
Print. Off., 1963J

Joint Committee to Combat Staphylococcal
Infection.
Control of staphylococcal infections in
hospitals.
N.Y., State Dept. of Health, 1958.

480.

Control of staphylococcal infections
in hospitals.
RA

972

F581

Joint Committee to Combat Staphylococcal
Infectior..
Control of staphylococcal infections in
h04,!l~tals.
N.Y., State Dept. of Health, 1958.
STAHlYLOCOCCAL DI5EA3E.
RA

972
F581

Joint Committee to Combl3.t Staph:;'lococcal
Infectior,.
Cor.trol of s"A'Slhylococcal infections in
hos-,itals.
;;.1., State De" t. of Eealth, 1958.

4B-

HOSPITALS -HYG !EKE.

RA
972
F581

Joint Committee to Combat Staphylococcal
Infection.
Control of staphylococcal infections in
hospitals.
r;.y., State Dept. of nealth, 1958,
48~.

1. HOSi'itals-Hygiene.
2. Sta,'hylococcal
disease.
I. Title.
II. New York (State)
Dept. of Health.
(RC1,6.s8)

Caption title.
1. Edueation-U.S.-1945 I. Title.
sess., 1963. House. Document no. 54)

Lt l1.C5

1963

Library of Congress

(Series: U.S. 88th Cong., ht

370.973

o

63-60561

Copy of Library of Congress style catalog card typeset
automatically from the input perforated tape record.
The tape produced from typing the recording form was
processed by a digital computer, producing a second
tape which controlled the phototypesetting machine.
The output of the phototypesetting machine is the card
shown.

* * * * * *

DECUSCOPE is publ ished monJhly for Digital Equ ipment Computer Users Soc iety (DECUS).
BOOK CATALOG PRODUCTION

Material for DECUSCOPE should reach the editor before the
7th day of the current month for publ ication in that issue.

Asecond use of catalog data processing is in the production
of book catalogs. These can be complete catalogs containing
all bibliographic data, or shortened catalogs on c specified
subject. The automatic production of these cata logs is a va lu-

DECUSCOPE is publ ished in Maynard, Massachusetts.
Editor: Angela Cossette, Digital Equipment Corporation
Publ ications Chairman: Joseph Lundy, Inforonics, Inc.
Present Circulation: 1000 copies per month

I

PDP-5 AT DOW BADISCHE
CHEMICAL COMPANY
By: James Miller, Dow Badische
Dow Badische is a producer of bulk chemicals sold to other
manufacturers. The company is using a 4K PDP-5, Type 555
Microtape System with two tape transports and a 630 Data
Communication System with 5 Teleprinters operating remotely.
The computer system performs the following tasks:
1. Da ily reports of raw materia I use, production, inventory of finished product and yields are generated
remotely in the five areas having remote teleprinters,
some with FORTRAN programs and some with timesharing programs.
2. A number of engineering design calculations are
handled at the local teleprinter using FORTRAN.
3. When the computer is otherwise not in use the teleprinters are used simultaneously as calculators which
retain previously ca Iculated va lues and do such operations as square root.
Paramount in the Dow Badische computer program is the effort
to have all technical people intimately acquainted with the
computer and able to use it. Many classes, exercises and
workshops have been held concerning FORTRAN, PAL, microtape use and time-sharing programming. A special IItimesharing language, 11 made possible by the new PAL, has been
leveloped and taughtand a manual produced to promote time
--shared use.
Near Future plans in the works include:
1. A device for reading into the computer memory
from a remote station two plastic cards embossed and
punched in Hollerith code, plus var-iabledata as a
means of accounting for the time of contract labor
personnel in the plant.
2. A daily survey for the plant manager incorporating all data and calculations sign ificant to this managerial level.

* * * * * *

NEWS ITEMS
Applications
Saturn V Tests System Uses PDP-5 Computers
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center at Huntsville, Alabama, has installed three general-purpose Programmed Data
Processor-5 computers.
The three computers and peripheral equipment form part of a
ground-based testing complex for use in NASA's Saturn V
program. Saturn V is a three-stage launching vehic Ie with
a first-stage thrust of 7.5 million pounds. It will be the
ime booster for the first manned moon landing using the
"rt.mar-orbit-rendezvousmethod. The first flight is scheduled
in 1966.
The three PDP-5 computers will function as central control
elements in an on-I ine data acquisi tion system in the center's

Astrionics Laboratory. The system wi II test inertia I components for the Saturn guidance system in a controlled laboratory
environment.
The data acquisition and processing was formerly performed
manually.
Each of the PDP-5s includes a 4096-word memory and an
input-output tape teleprinter. Also inc luded is a 200-cardper-minute reader, dua) DEC tape system, ana log-to-digita I
converter, logic circuit modules for periphera I equipment interfaces.

. ......

Coast Guard Buys PDP-5 for Sea and Shore Duty
The Coast Guard has purchased a PDP-5 computer for use in
reducing oceanographic data at sea and ashore.
The data is used prine ipally to construct a Geostrophic Current Chart in order to predict the speed and course of icebergs drifting into the major shipping lanes near the Grand
Banks. The Coast Guard performs this work for the International Ice Patrol.
A PDP-5 has earl ier been tested for the work during the 1964
ice patrol cruises on board the Coast Guard oceanographic
vesse I Evergreen, when data was taken at nearly 500 oceanographic stations. Use of the computer shortened the calculation time from three hours per station by hand to 15 minutes
py machine. Italso made possible more complete processing
whileatsea, eliminating the previous hand calculating done
ashore after the ship docked.
Calculations inc I ude determining average and difference
temperatures of paired portected and unprotected thermometers, thermometric depth, anomoly of specific volume, oxygen content and saturation, temperature and sal inity at standard depths, and dynamic height.
.
Inaddition to performing these assignments on the Evergreen,
the PDP-5 will be used ashore in Washington following the
end of the ice patrol season to process similar data gathered
elsewhere by other Coast Guard vessels.

* * * * * *
Lederle Laboratories Using L1NC Computer
Lederle Laboratories of American Cyanam id Company at Pearl
River, N.Y., has purchased a L1NC Computer for use in
electrophysiological and neuropharmacological experimentation.
The Experimental Therapeutics Research Section of Lederle's
DepartmentofExperimental Pharmacology is using the L1NC
to analyze the effects of drugs upon responses electrically
evoked from various segments of the central nervous system
of mammals.
In the future, the computer is expected to serve in addition
as a control element in these experiments.
The computer is currently used not only in an on-I ine mode
to collect, treat, and store data about bioelectric potentials, butalso inan off-line mode to subject the data to various mathematical and statistical procedures.
Programs are being written to perform similar experimental

procedures upon data derived from the responses of single units
of the centra I nervous system to electrical stimulation. Computer control of the examination of the electrical correlates
of several of the determinants of animal behaviour is in the
planning stage.

New York University's PDP-7 Computer
for New Sc ience Laboratory

* * * * * *

Brookhaven Using PDP-5 for Film-Scanning Work
Brookhaven National Laboratory at Up ton, Long Island,
N. Y., has purchased a PDP-5 computerfor use on I ine by the
Physics Department in a fi 1m-scanning appl ication.
The photographs are taken as elementary partie les interact
in a bubble chamber. The computer records in digi ta I form
for later analysis a three-dimensional numerical description
of selected partie Ie tracks recorded by the photographs.
The track description is generated by shaft angle encoding
equipmentattached to manually operated photoelectric scanning machines.
Before using the PDP-5 for this work, the operators punched
data from the mach ines into paper tape, and the tape was
later taken to the computation center.
The PDP-5 is expected to eliminate the format and bookkeeping errors that could lessen the usefulness of data prepared under the earl ier method.

* * * * * *

Digital Building Systems for AIL Radiation Studies
Three analog-to-digita I conversion systems for use in analyzing solar radiation have been ordered by Airborne Instruments
Labora tory.
The systems wi LI be used by AI L's Appl ied Electronics Department of Deer Park, New York, to convert analog energy received by radio telescopes from the sun into digital
values for recording on incremental magnetic tape transports.
The recorded data wi II later be reduced in a computation
center. The gaol of the project is to be able to predict the
onset of solar radiation which could be harmful to astronauts.

The PDP-7 computerand peripheral equipmentpictured above
was recently installed at New York University. Department
of Industrial Engineering and Operations ResearchL The
PDP-7will aetas the nucleus of a systems science laboratory
where undergraduates and graduate students can experiment
with computer appl ications and develop new engineering
methodologies.
The new laboratory is an unprecedented fac i I ity and is expected to become a vehicle for dramatic changes in experimentation, course work, and research.
Undergraduates will experiment with known appl ications for
computers and design experimental systems for new applications. Graduate students will gain in the laboratory the experience needed to develop new ways of solving engineering
problems.
Peripheral equipment includes a precision incremental CRT
displaywith a slave display and light pen; a data communication subsystem with two remote teleprinter keyboards; a
300-character/second paper tape reader; and a 63-character/
second tape punch.

Earl ie r, the information was presented to the operators on
strip chart recordings. The operators examined the charts
and used them to prepare data which could be read into the
computer.

Other installations planning to use displays with th~ PDP-7
are:

The new systems wi II speed up the process and e lim inate format errors in the input preparation step. Included in each
system wi II be a three-channe I mul tiplexer, a spec ia I analogto-digital converter, control logic for the converter and the
tape transport, and a real time clock.

University of Delft, Germany - Control Engineering

The data to be recorded on tape includes time, identification
of channels exceeding threshold values in each scan, the
scan interval, and a 12-bit number representing the strength
of the received energy. Console switches and controls let
the operator enter site and date information, vary the scanning interva I in five steps from 1 to 30 seconds, and set the
threshold value for each channel independently.

Stanford University - Pulse Height Analysis

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - On-line data acquisition, reduction and control in nuc lear physics experiments
University of Oxford, England - On-line to Nuclear
Structure Experiments
University of Cambridge, England - Display Control System
University of Pittsburgh - Controlling psychological experiments, computer-based instruction
University of Texas - Use in Accelerator Laboratory

j/
Programming
MULTIPLE PRECISION RADIX DEFLATION
By: James Langley, Digital Equ ipment Corporation
Radix deflation may readily be extended to mul tiple precision arithmetic. As an example of this, consider the following six digit BCD number stored in iwo words.

Applying single precision radix deflation (se e Decuscope
Vol. 4, No. 1) to each. word in turn the following result is
obtained.

2
1
[tD5 10 + D410 + D3100)

16~ +

f

2
2 10 + DllOl + DOl 00]

where each bracket represents the contents of one word.
The radix 163 must now be deflated to 103 • A double prec ision two bit right shiftof the most significant word only wi II
deflate to 1024. The most sign ificant word only must next be
shifted left three and then four bits and each of these quantities subtracted from the least significant half of the previous
result.
Double prec ision addition of the quantity on the right hand of
the equation above yields the correct result.

* * * * * *
GRAPHpad
By: Dave Brown and William Long, Digital Equipment
Corporation
GRAPHpad is a spec ia I purpose program to demonstrate the
capabil ity of the 340 Display and the PDP-4 or PDP-7, and
to provide the type of displays and controls one might need
for a drafting program.

As the program stands now there are 8 permanent symbols and
64alp~anumeric charactersavai lab Ie to the draftsman. These
symbols, together with individually defined lines are the
forms with which the draftsman may create a picture. Sample
symbols are fl ip-flop, resistor, inverter, etc. Each permanent symbol is specified by increment and vector mode words
located in the Permanent Symbol Table.

There are five modes of operation of the program: Symbols
Mode, Line Mode, Alphabet Mode, Title Mode, and Erase
Mode. Mode selection is by pointing the light pen at one
of the five control characters, S L ATE, displayed at all
times that the mode may be changed.
Symbols Mode - The program starts in Symbols Mode. In
Symbols Model the permanent symbols are displayed along
Nith the control characters S L ATE. The draftsman selects
the desired symbols by pointing the Iight pen at the symbols
displayed for selection, and positions the symbols on the
screen by pointing the light pen at the desired position on
the screen.

Line Mode - The draftsman selects either a horizontal-thenvertical ora vertical-then-horizontal pair of lines and positions them with the lightpen. The length of either or both of
the lineswill adjust to follow the pen once the starting point
has been fixed. There are no slant Iinesavai lable in GRAPHpad to date.
Alphabet Mode - The operator may select any number of
characters from those displayed and position them on the
screen with the pen just as in Symbols Mode.
Title Mode - A title and frame appears around the picture as
illustrated by the GRAPHpad brochure. Pointing the light
pen at DEC in the title wi II cause the picture (only) to be
punched on paper tape for off-I ine storage.
Erase Mode - The draftsman may erase any symbol with the
lightpen. Aconfirmationofthis intention is required by the
draftsman to prevent acc identa I erasures.
The organization of the data to be displayed as drawn figures
is such that each drawn symbol is represented by only five
words of PDP-4 memory in a Drawn Figures or Drawn Lines
Table. The five-word set spec ifies the x and y c~ordinate
of the symbols and the address of that symboPs representation
in the permanent symbol table. Thus for a drawing of ten
flip-flops, there is one flip-flop picture representation stored
in the PDP-4memory (Permanent Symbol Table) (Ind ten fiveword sets that point to that representation to be displayed at
ten different locations on the screen.
Acomplete writeup, including a symbolic listing, and tapes
are avai lable and may be obtained by contacting either DECUS or the Digital Program Library.
Other 340 Display programs presently available are: IIFloating Diamond,lI 116 Closed Figures ll and II Lotsa Litul Pichas
anna Four.1I

Literature Available
PDP-4 FORTRAN Program Description, Digital 4-40-5
The book is divided into three sections: FORTRAN Manua I ,
Users Manua I and FORTRAN Summary Description. The
FORTRAN Manual is for the less experienced programmer
and contains many programming examples as well as introductory material. The Users' Manuaf details standard operating procedures for the PDP-4 FORTRAN system. Diagnostics and Error Messages are inc luded as appendixes to this
book. FORTRAN Summary Description describes the language used by the PDP-4 FORTRAN Compiler for those familiar with existing FORTRAN dialects. Contact the Digital
Program Library for copies of this publication.
MACRO-6 Assembly Language, DEC-6-0-TP-MAC-LM-FPACT-1
The book describes the assembly language for the PDP-6 in
the first three chapters. The rest of the book dea Is with miscellaneous related topics.
PDP-6 FORTRAN II Language, DEC-6-0-TP-F II-LM-PREOO
Th is manual describes the FORTRAN " language and explains
its use with the PDP-6.
PAL II Addenda
Th is addenda briefly describes the revision in the operating
characteristics of PAL. The entire manual is being rewritten and wi II be distributed shortly.
1964 DECUS PROCEEDINGS
Papers presented at the 1964 DEC US Spring and Annua I
Meetings are preliently being published in the 1964 DECUS
PROCEEDINGS. Copies of this proceedings will be sent to
all

PDP Installation Delegates within the next few weeks.

Others may obtain copies by contacting the DECUS Office.

*******

COMPUTER OPTIONS

570 MAGNETIC TAPE TRANSPORT
The Type 570 is a digital magnetic tape transport designed
for use with any Programmed Data Processor. With PDPs 1 ,
4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 the transportconnects through a Type 521
Interface and a Type 57 A Control. With PDP-6 a 521 Interface, 516 Control, and 136 Data Control are used.
Included with the 570 is a multiplex interface which permits
time-shared use of the transport by two tape controls on the
same or different computers. With this feature the user can
establisha tape pool of given capacity with fewer transports

than would be needed in a non-sharing system. In addition,
one tape control under program control may use a number of
transports for spl itor merge operations, returning the transports to the pool only when the spl it or merge is complete.
A third appl ication of the interface is in the exchange of
information between computers via tape.
The 570 records at densities of 200, 556, and 800 characters
perinchat speeds of 75 or 112.5 inches per second. Maximum transfer rate is 90,000 characters per second. Electropneumatic drive keeps tape stress far below thatof a pinch roller drives, with consequent reduction of tape distortion and
wear. At the same time, total acceleration time to constant
tape speed is equal to that of pinch roller drives. Other features include: straight-.through threading, automatic rewindbrake-stop sequence, and a rewind time of 90 seconds for
2400 feet.
Electro-Pneumatic Drive: The 570 Transport mechanism is an
electro-pneumatic one of new design. Tape is moved by
contrarbtating, porous capstans, against which the tape is
forced by air pressure from clamps over the capstans. Motion
is stopped when the tape is lifted off the capstan by back
pressure from within the capstan, and the tape is forced against
a brake, also by air pressure.
This technique offers advantages 0 v e r vacuum-controlled
systems. First, the pressure differentia I that forces the tape
against the capstan is not lim ited to one atmosphere; thus
faster tape acceleration can be achieved. Second, the compi icated switching necessary to reverse pressures from above
atmospheric to below atmospheric is el im inated. Third, the~
momentary abrasion towhich tape is subjected as it is pulled
away from the vacuum on a slotted capstan is avoided.
Compared to pinch roller drives, the 570 capstan subjects
the tape to one-tenth the tensi Ie stressbecause of air cushioning during acceleration, yet a stabl ized read-write speed
is reached just as soon (4 mill iseconds max imum after the command signal). Indentation of the tape caused by impacts of
pinch rollers is eliminated.

* * * * * *

TYPE 24 SERIAL DRUM
The Type 24 Seria I Drum system, a standard option for Programmed Data Processors PDP-1, PDP-4, and PDP-7, is avai 1able in three storage sizes: 32,768, 65,536 and 131,072
19-bitwords. Information is stored and transferred in blocks
of 256 18-bit words. Each drum word contains 18 informationbitsand 1 parity bit. Average access time is 8.65 milliseconds. A computer word is transferred in about 67.2 microseconds; a block transfer is completed in 17.3 mill iseconds .
Computation continues during block transfers.
Two instructions cause the transfer of a 256-word block. The
first spec ifies the core memory location of the block and the
direction of transfer (drum to core or core to drum). The sec'"!
ond instruction specifies the block or track number and initiates the transfer. Transfer of each word is under control of
the computer data interrupt control and is interleaved with
the runn ing program.

DECUS PROGRAM LIBRARY
PDP-l LIBRARY CATALOG ADDITIONS
DECUS NO. 79
Title: Extended Memory Punch and Loader Routines (EXPCH 1
and EXPCHO)
Author: William E. Fletcher, BBN-Cambridge
Purpose: Tofacilitate punching and loading binary information from any memory bank in the PDP-l •

When a program is called, the executive routine restores itself, rewinds the tape, and searches for the correct block.
If the program is not found, control is returned to the experimenter at the keyboard. If it finds the program, DEXTER
loads the routine, over itself if necessary, and transfers control to the program. The program must return control to
DEXTER when it is finished so that other programs can be
_~II~,J

\.oo\..4IIC\..I.

Other DEXTER features are: min imum programming restrictions, minimum storage limitations (self-restoring), full debugging features, and a comprehensive editing program for
preparing the executive tape.

* * * * * *

Type: Util ity
Programming Language: DECAL-BBN
Storage Used: 7500-7707 in either Core 0 or Core 1
Comments: Punch program as presently set up can reside in
either Core 0 or Core 1. When tape is read in, a loader is
automatica Ily punched out. Any number of blocks in any
memory bank can then be punched out under typewriter control. When resulting tape is read back into the computer, all
of the information wi II be loaded into proper locations regardless of the setting of the test address switches.

PDP-5 LIBRARY CATALOG ADDITIONS
DECUS NO. 5/S-17
Title: Type 250 Drum Transfer Routine for use on PDP-5/s
Author: G. Arthur Mac I Iroy , the Foxboro Company, Natick
Purpose: Transfer data from drum to core (Read) or core to
drum (Write) via ASR 33 Keyboard control.

MEETINGS
ECUS NO. SO
Title: DEXTER, a magnetic tape executive routine.

CALL FOR PAPERS
The American Federation of Information Processing Societies
has issued a call for papers for the Fall Joint Computer Con-

Author: Robert D. Keirn, Wolf Research and Development
Corporation developed under Air Force Contract AF19(62S)1614atAFCRL, CRBI.

ference which will be held this year at Las Vegas, Nevada,
November 30 - December 2nd. The deadline for papers is
June 15, 1965. Send one complete draft copy, together

Purpose: To provide an efficient method of loading programs
from magnetic tape under on-I ine operator control.
Hardware: PDP-l (Sk), Type 52 Magnetic Tape Control
Type 50 Tape Transport (two required for editor).

wi th a 150-word abstract to:
Mr. Robert Gray, ~ecretary
Program Committee 1965 FJCC
Post Offi ce Box 49
Santa Monica, California 90406

Language: AMP (can be converted to DECAL or MACRO
easi Iy).
Description: DEXTER isan executive routine designed to facilitatetheoperationofa PDP-l data processing system during experimental runs. It affords the experimenter full communication with the system from the console. DEXTER requires
an sk PDP-l with a Type 52 Magnetic Tape Control. The
software consists of an executive routine and a maintenance
routine. Other programs are written in a DEXTER COMPATIBLE FORMAT and stored on the executive magnetic tape.
At run time DEXTER is loaded into the computer which is
--,uipped with a magnetic tape on which are sf;,Qred the nec. . . . sary routines. The order in which these are loaded and
executed by the executive program may be specified either
by the experimenter from the on-I ine typewriter or by the
program itself as a resu It of computation, etc. This gives
the desired flexibi I ity without sacrific ing speed or effic iency.

* * * * * * *
FASEB MEETING
The Fe de rat ion of American Societies for Experimental
Biology (FASEB) will hold its meeting at Convention Hall,
Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 10-14.
At this meeting, Digital Equipment Corporation wi II conduct
simulated biomedical laboratory demonstration6 us i n g the
Laboratory Instrument Computer (L1 NC).

Programs wi II be

used which demonstrate averaging of physiologica I signa Is,
and plotting of histograms and ECG data.
The PD P-S and the Modu Ie Laboratory Trai ner wi II a Iso be
demonstrated.

NEW DECUS MEMBERS
PDP-4 DELEGATES

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

David Vander Yacht
University of Michigan
Center for Research on Language
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Bernard I. Savage
1340 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts

PDP-5 DELEGATES

N. S. Wells
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
Chalk River, Ontario

J. I. Meltzer will replace Mrs. Ruth Kelly
as delegate from Bell Telephone Laboratories,
New York, New York
Jack P. Richards
Westi nghouse Astrofue I Fac iii ty
Cheswick, Pennsylvania
Lance L. Strayer
Boeing-Huntsville Simulation Center
Huntsville, Alabama
E. E. Wuschke
Whiteshell Nuc lear Research Establ ishment
Pinawa, Manitoba
Jacques Mou reton
Groupe De Recherches lonospheriques
Seine, France
Dr. Borry Barish
Synchrotron Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
PDP-7 DELEGATES
B. E. F. Macefield
Nuc lear Physics Laboratory
University of Oxford
Oxford, England
Dr. Ronald G. Ragsdale
Learning Research and Development Center
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Claude Eon
Groupe De Recherches lonospheriques
Seine, France
Robert E. Werner
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
livermore, California
John W. McC lure
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
livermore, California
Wi liard A. Bryant
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New York
Edward D. Gil bert
Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Frank S. Greatorex, Jr.
Charles W. Adams Associates
Bedford, Massachusetts
Harold Levy
Scientific Engineering Institute
Waltham, Massachusetts
Daniel J. Gold,
Shlemo Lampert and
E. S. Fine
New York University
Bronx, New York
Dr. R. H. Goodman
555 Booth Street
Ottawa, Ontario

PDP-8 DELEGATES
A. Seidman and G. W. Hutchinson
University of Southampton
Southampton, England
J. S. Fraser
Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories
Chalk River, Ontario

Gerald P. Calame
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New Y ("\rl.,

DECUSCOPE
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT COMPUTER USERS SOCIETY
MAYNARD,

MASSACHUSETTS / TEL.

897-8821 / TWX

710 347-0212

APRIL 1965
Vol.4- No.4

.

AGENDA
DECUS SPRING SYMPOSIUM
William James Hall, Harvard University
May 20- 21, 1965

TH U RSDAY - MAY 20
8:30 a.m. - 9:20 a.m.

REG ISTRA TI ON AND C OFF EE
(First Floor of William James Hall)

9:30

OPENING OF MEETINrograms"
A short description of each program currently avai lab Ie for
the PDP-8 or -5.
"Octal Memory Dump, Digital-8-6-U-Sym"
This is a description of the dump program routine for use on
the PDP-8 or -5. This routine reads the console switches
twice to obtain the upper and lower Iimits of an area of
memory, then types on the Teletype an absolute address plus
the octal contents of the first four words specified and repeats this unti I the block is exhausted. At this time the user
may repeat the operation.
"PDP-8 DECtape Programming Manual, Digital-8-27-U"
This manual is a description of the DEC tape software which
has been developed for the PDP-8 under three categories:
1.

Subroutines which the programmer may easi Iy incorporate into a program for data storage, logging,
data acquisition, data buffering, etc.

2.

A library calling system for storing named programs
on DECtape and calling them with a minimal size
loader.

3.

Programs for performating tapes controlled by the
content of the switch register to write the timing
and mark channels, to write block formats, to exerc ise the tape and check for errors, and to provide ease of maintenance.

"DDT -8 Programming Manual, Digita 1-8-4-S"
This manual describes the debugging system for the PDP-8
or PDP-5.

bit words in blocks of 129 words.

DECtape CONTROL 552
The Type 552 DECtape Control operates up to four Type 555
Dual DECtape Transports (8 drives). Binary information is
transferred between the tape and the computer in 12-bit
computer words approximately every 1331;3 microseconds.
In writing, the control disassembles 12-bit computer words
so that they are written at four successive lines on tape.
Transfers between the computer and the control always
occur in parallel for a 12-bit word. Data transfers use the
data break (high speed channel) facility of the computer. As
the start and end of each block are detected by the Mark
track detection circuits, the control raises a DECtape (DT)
flag which causes a computer program interrupt. The program interrupt is used by the computer program to determine
the block number. When it determines that the forthcoming
block is the one selected for a data transfer, it selects the
read or write control mode. Each time a word is assembled
or DECtape is ready to receive a word from the computer,
the control raises a data flag. This flag is connected to the
computer data break facility to signify a break request.
Therefore, when each 12-bit computer word is assembled,
the data flag causes a data break and initiates a transfer. By
using the Mark channel decoding circuits and data break
facility in this manner, computation in the main computer
program can continue during tape operations.

Transfers require 4.5% of PDP-5 cycles and 1.2%
of PDP-8 cycles after the initial 200 millisecond start time.

DECUS PROGRAM LIBRARY

PDP-1 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS

3. a series of computer-generated reports which indicate the latest revision of the project manpower requirementso

DECUS NO. 81
Title:

CalComp Plotter Software for the PDP-1

Author:

Adams Assoc i ares

Submitted by: Group 22, M.1. T. Lincoln Laboratory
Programming Language:

MACRO

Hardware Requirments: CalComp Plotter, 16K Core Memory, 16 channel sequence break system, 800 B. p. i. magnetic tape.
Comments: This system was produced for Group 22, M .1. T •
Lincoln Laboratory. The system consists of a set of subroutines that drive a CalComp Plotter. There are 4 output options: (1) the system generates a magnetic tape that is used
in con junction wit h a 1401 to drive the plotter; (2) the
magnetic tape can drive the plotterd irectly using a CalC omp
System 670-80; (3) the magnetic tape can be reread by the
PDP-1 to drive the plotter on-linei (4) the plotter can be
driven by the PDP-1 directly on-line. Listings, flow charts
and examples are inc luded in the 111-page manual. Tapes

( r the subroutines are also available.

A complete write-up, paper tapes and Iistings are now avai 1able from the DECUS Progrom Library.
DECUS NO. 4-12
Title:

BOOLEPAC

Author:

Donald Sordillo, Harvard University

Description: The 0 n I y Boolean functions directly imp lementable by the PDP-4 are:
Negation or NOT; implemented by CMA
Union or AND; implemented by AND
Exclusive or; implemented by XOR
Boolepac allows these and other Boolean functions* to be
implemented on the PDP-4 (and PDP-7). The general calI ing scheme is:
Lac {first argument

Ithe function name

BFN
Lac {second argument

PDP-4 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
The function defined in Boolepac are as follows:
DEC US NO. 4- 11
Title:

Engineering Project Scheduling System

Author:

Robert Vernon, M .1. T ./DEC

Description: The Project Scheduling System is an engineering planning guide with an automated updating feature. The
purpose of the system is to coordinate the engineering effort,
both interna lIy and with the various service departments of
the company.
Specifically, the system will:

Inclusive or

lOR

A v B

Stroke (not and)

NAND

A B or AB

Neither-nor

NOR

AvB or A B

Impl ication

COND

A::> B

Equivalence

IFF

A= B

Non-implication

NCOND

- (A~ B)

*Excluded from Boolepac are the trivial or easily implementable functions: 1, %, A, B.
PDP-5 PROGRM LIBRARY ADDITIONS

a. serve as a planning guide to the engineer by helping him to coordinate. the various activities within
his project;
b. provide the chief engi neer with up-to-date information concerning the projected utilization of
engineering manpower;
c. provide other departments such as Drafting, upon
whose services engineering depends, with up-todate forecasts of workload requirements; and
d. provide a basis for estimating the engineering budget.
The Engineering Project Schedu ling System consists of:

DECUS NO. 5-18
Title:

Bin Tape Disassembler for the PDP-5*

Author:
John W. McC lure, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, Cd lifornia
Description: This program disassembles a PDP-5 program,
in Bin format, on punched paper tape. The tape is read by
a high-speed reader, but the program may be modified to
use the ASR 33 reader. The margin setting, address, octa I
contents, mnemonic interpretation (PAL), and the effective
address are printed on the ASR 33 teletype.

1. a graphical schedule for each project,
2. a program for updating the schedules, and

*Work performed under the auspices of the U. S. Atomic
Energy Commission.

NEW DECUS MEMBERS

PDP-l DELEGATE

PDP-7 DELEGATES

I ND IVI DUAL MEMBERS (Continued)

Richard J. McQui II in
Inforonics Inc.
Maynard, Massachusetts

J. C. Lisle
Manc hester Un ivers i ty
Phys i co I Laboratories
Manchester, England

R. L. A. Cottrell
Manchester University
Physical Laboratories
Manchester, England

PDP-4/7 DELEGATE

Laszlo von Homos
Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden

Jerome A. G. Russe II
The Institute of Medical Sciences
Research Data Foci Iity
San Francisco, Cal ifornia

N. E. Wiseman
Cambridge University
Mathematical Laboratory
Cambridge, England

PDP-s/8 DELEGATE
Richard C. Reyna
Dymec Division
Hewlett-Packard Company
Palo Alto, California

PDP-8 DELEGATES
Dr. R. J. Ell ison
Manchester University
Physi cs Department
Manchester, Eng land

PDP-S DELEGATES
Stanley L. Davenport
Chrysler Corporation-Space Div.
New Orleans, Lou isiana
Dr. Ernest Malamud
Physics Dept. - University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
ire H. Broekhuis
Royal Netherlands Blast Furnaces
and Steelworks Ltd.
IJmuid-en - The Netherlands
Dav id E. Wagner
U. S. Naval Weapons Laboratory
Dahlgren, Virginia
S. R. Penstone
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario
Sumner Billings
Fischer & Porter Company
Warminster, Pennsylvania
Dr. R. H. Goodman.
Department of Mines and
Technical Surveys
Ottawa, Ontario
B. G. Mathis
North American Aviation, Inc.
Tulsa, Oklahoma

W. W. Lee, Jr.
Union Carbide Corporation
Nuclear Division
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Alistair R. McKenzie
Standard Telephones & Cables Ltd.
Enfie Id, Midd lesex, England
A. G. McNamara
Nationa I Research Counci I
Ottawa, Canada
John Strand
Ann Arbor Computer Corporation
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dr. D. Luers and L. Kvasz
Max Planck Institut
Munich, W. Germany

Douglas A. Didier
Vincent L. Foxworthy
Jay W. Fickes
Systems Research Laboratories, Inc.
Dayton, Ohio
K. I. Gordon
D. H. B. Consu Iting Engrs.
Montreal, Quebec
James Heaton
Ann Arbor Computer Corporation
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Robert W. Hockenbury
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New York
Paul M. Kjeldergaard
Un iversity of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Charles A. Laszlo
David H. Moscovitch
O. T. L. Research Laboratories
Royal Victoria Hospital
Montreal, Quebec
Dr. J. V. Oldfield
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland

I NDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

Dr. Abram Petkau
Whiteshe II Nuc lear Research Estb.
Pi nawa, Man itoba

Robert P. Abbott
The Institute of Medical Sciences
Research Data Facility
San Francisco, California

N. van der Vlugt
Roya I Netherlands Blast Furnaces
and Stee Iworks Ltd.
IJmuiden, The Netherlands

Mari Iyn R. Avery
A. E. R. E. Harwell
Didcot, Berkshire, England
D. William Berte
Dona Id C. Loughry
Dymec Division
Hewlett-Packard Company
Palo Alto, California
Edward N. Chase
Charles W. Adams Associates !nc.
C ambri dge, Massachusetts

~ECUSCOPE
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT COMPUTER USERS SOCIETY
MAYNARD,

MASSACHUSETTS / TEL.

897-882; / TWX

710 347-0212

JUNE 1965
Vol. 4 No.6

A MESSAGE FROM
THE DECUS PRESIDENT

GRATITUDE
DECUS wishes to express gratitude to the many persons who
made the 1965 Spring Symposium possible. Thanks to our
hosts, Harvard University, and particularly, Dr. Donald
Norman and his capable staff. Thanks to our guest speakers,
Mr. Harlan Anderson, Professor Steven Coons and Dr. James
Oliver, for their particularly interesting presentations.
Thanks to the authors for the unusua Ily high qua Iity of papers
presented, and to the individual attendees for making the
conference an interesting and stimu lating experience.
William A. Fahle
DECUS President

* * * * * * * *

IT'S YOUR SOCIETY
We hope that none of our readers loses sight of the fact that
DEC USC OPE is intended to communicate ideas not only to
but among the DECUS membership. Without member participation, we can send each month a volley of technical material, but never really know if we are on target. We urge
you to help shape DEC USC OPE as a medium of communication for the membership and a forum for ideas in data processing. Send a description of your computer applications
or experimental resu Its. Submit programs, subroutines and
artful programming packages. Address open technical questions to the membership. Above all, we would like to hear
your ideas on what should be included each month on the
pages of DECUSCOPE. Write to the editor or to the publi"'ations committee and help to en large the channels of
,Jmmunication.
Joseph T. Lundy
Publications Chairman

Regarding the 1965 DECUS Spring Symposium

The 1965 DECUS Spring Symposium was enjoyable, instructive and challenging. This in itself is complete justification
for the conference; however, since it is reasonable to examine such an undertaking in terms of purpose, the following question is posed: How well did the 1965 DEC US Spring
Symposium fu lfi II the objectives of DEC US as specified in
the bylaws? To answer this, the objectives are reviewed.
Objective 1 - To advance the art of computation through
mutual education and interchange of ideas and information.
The important words here are "through mutual education. II
The symposium was encyclopedic in its educational material.
The conferences provided useful information about such
matters as graphic communication, metallurgy, nuclear research, typography, accounting, and oceanography. The
road to better communications and idea interchange among
DEC US members is through better understanding of the goals
and problems of the individual DECUS installations. This
understanding was furthered both at the sessions and during
the luncheons, coffee breaks, and social hour.
Ob jective 2 - To establish standards and to provide channels
to faci Iitate the free exchange of computer programs among
members.
This objective is best accomplished by functions of DECUS
other than the symposia • However, due to the re laxed and
friend Iy surroundings, those who attended the meeting were
in a good position to find out authoritative detai Is about
particular programs in the library. Several general-purpose
display programs, m~nitor, and assembly systems were described in detai I during the sessions.
Objective 3 - To provide feedback to the computer industry
on equ i pment and programm i n9 needs.

If the 1965 DEC US Spring Symposium is to be remembered
for anything, it wi II be remembered as the first time that a
symposium was used effectively to provide this feedback.
Mr. Harlan Anderson of Digital Equipment Corporation delivered a n address covering the present status and future
goals of DEC US. A panel of DEC representatives was there
for a sound-off session which was so well executed and rece ived that ies rna jor fau It seems to have been that it was
about an hour too short.
It can onlybe concluded that the symposium brought DECUS
(continued on page 2)

Message From DEC US President Continued
c loser to its goals. The picture painted in this artic Ie may
appear a bit rosy; there probably were certain flaws and
faults. But the general picture that remains with each
attendee is that of a worthwhile, educational and enjoyable
symposium in a congenial atmosphere.
William A. Fahle
DECUS President

office on January 1st instead of during the Fall DECUS
Meeting. The proposed changes wi II be submitted tot h e
delegates for approval.
Business Meeting - Spring Symposium
The business meeting held at the Spring Symposium was pr.
sided over by William Fahle, DECUS President. Mr. Fa~:
discussed the growth of DECUS during the past four years and
then each committee chairman was called upon to give a
report.
Dick McQuillin described the proposed changes in the bylaws and what each particu lar change entai led.

DECUS BUSINESS
-A Summary of Recent Committe MeetingsExecutive Board Meeting
An Executive Board Meeting was held on April 21st at C.
W. Adams Associates in Bedford. The following members
attended: John T. Gilmore, Jr. (Adams Assoc iates),
Richard McQuillin (lnforonics), Joseph Lundy (lnforonics),
Jack Brown (Bolt Beranek and Newman), Elsa Newman, and
Angela Cossette (DEC). Mr. William Fahle, DECUS President, was not able to attend and appointed Mr. Gilmore to
act as his proxy. Several topics were discussed. The
main ones being: final preparations for the Spring Symposium, nominations, b.ylaw changes and the possibility of providing a user configuration service through DEC US. Separate Nomination and Bylaw Committees were set up. The
Bylaws Committee consisted of: Richard McQuillin (Chairman), Joe Lundy, Elsa Newman and Angela Cossette. The
Nominations Committee consisted of: Jack Brown (Chairman), Dick McQui lIin and Jack Gi Imore. During the meeting, Dick McQui Ilin gave an account of the recent JUG
Meeting (ACM) which he attended as the delegate for DEC US.
Nominations Committee
The Nominations Committee met on April 26th to determine
possible candidates for DECUS office. A tentative slate was
set up, but was not finalized due to the fact that nominations could also be made during the Spring Symposium and
for one month following. Nomination forms were sent out to
all members for their convenience in making their nominations for office. The final slate of candidates will be published in DECUSCOPE and ballots will be sent to all delegates.
Bylaws Committee
After review by the members of the committee, Mr. McQuillin drew up the proposed changes which included:
1•

The provision for two secretaries - a recording secretary (elective) and an executive secretary (to be provided by Digital with the approval of the Executive
Board) and the duties of each.

2.

Duties of Standing Committee Chairmen.

3.

Provision for an elected Publications Committee Chairman.

4.

Terms of office.

The Board favored two-year terms for a II the elected offi ces •
A suggestion was made to have newly elected officers take

Jack Brown talked about the status of nominations and asked
for additiona I nominations from the floor. Severa I n am e s
were placed in nomination.
Jack Gilmore dis c u sse d the time and place for the Fall
Meeting. A suggestion was made to hold the meeting on
Monday, November 29 (the day before the opening of the
Fall Joint Computer Conference) in either Las Vegas or San
Francisco. No definite dec is ion was made at this time.
Any suggestions from the membership are welcome.

PROGRAMMING NOTES
WANTED
CalComp Plot t e r Routines for the PDP-4/7 and PDP-5/8.
Please contact the DECUS Office.

PARITY CHECKING ON THE CONTENTS OF THE AC
By:

Sid Penstone, Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario

The following is a routine for checking the parity of a
number in the AC.

/Number in AC
cll
parity, szl
cma
rar
spa
cma
sza
jmp parity
•
/Exits with AC zero after
/all bits checked
jUnk = 0 for even parity
jUnk = 1 for odd parity

DECUSCOPE is published monthly for Digital EquipmentComputer Users Soc iety (DECUS).
Material for DECUSCOPE should reach the editor before the
7th day of the current month for publ ication in that issue.
DECUSCOPE is publ ished in Maynard, Massachusetts.
Editor: Angela Cossette, Digital Equipment Corporation
Publ ications Chairman: Joseph Lundy, Inforonics, Inc.
Present Circulation: 1000 copies per month

I
I

I

'\,'4
1/' GRAY CODE TO BINARY CONVERSION
From:

Jon Stedman, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, California
GRAY CODE TO BINARY CONVERSION

%
/

LAC GRAY NUMBER
JMS GRAY
RETURN Vv'iTH AC = binary number

/

requires 1.1 milliseconds per conversion

gray,

o

grayOO,
gray 11,

gray 10,
grayOl ,

~rat,

3 nat ,

cllVspa
jmp grayOl
rcl
/bits are same
isz gnat
jmp grayOO
jmp i gray

The Multianalyzerwill be used with Rensselaerls 45-200
megawatt Iinearacceleratorand pulsed magnet deflection
system for time-of-fl ight and pulse-height analysis.

/set loop count

/count bit
/Ioop
/exit

In the time-of-fl ight studies, particles derived from the
accelerator and scattered by a sample under test are timed
as they travel alonQ a known distance. This information
enables the scientist to determine their velocity distribution and, therefore, their energy distribution after scattering. This knowledge provides an insight into the dynamics of molecular motions in the samples under study.

spa
imp groyl1
stl
/bits are different
ral
stl
/count bit
isz gnat
jmp gray10
/Ioop
jmp i gray
/exit

o
o

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will use PDP MultianaIyzer in investigations ofsubatomic particle interactions.
The university's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering is performing the research for the Reactor Division of the Atomic Energy Commission.

In the pulse-height studies, energy spectra of machineinduced nuclear reactions are analyzed by detecting,
measuring, recording, sorting, and summing the individual energies of particles thrown off from the sample under
test.

/save gray number

dac grat
lam -21
dac gnat
lac grat

RENSSELAER TO USE PDP-7
FOR NUCLEAR EVENT STUDIES

/ gray number storage
/bit counter

start
Algorithm Reference: System Module Manual (DEC)
Page 2.19

NEWS ITEMS

Cross-sectional and reactor-type time-of-fl ight experiments with slow and fast neutrons are to be performed
using the Multianalyzer, which makes possible a timecompression sampling of energy spectra. In this configruation, a portion of the PDP-7 I s memory is used as a
derandomizing buffer. Input data from detectors and time
scalers is deposited in this buffer area in the form of a
list. Later the Iist is processed to increment the channels
in the data portion of memory corresponding to the various times at wh ich events were recorded.
List processing of the data lends itselfwell to time-channel compression, enabl ing the experimenter to gather and
examine extremely detailed information about the highenergy channels without sacrificing coverage of other
channels.

*****

STANFORD TO USE L1NC COMPUTER
The School of Medicine (Departmentof Pharmacology) at
Stanford University will use a L1NC (Laboratory INstrument Computer) on and off I ine in the analysis of experimenta I data. The data will come from evoked and spontaneous electrical activity in the nervous systems of mammals subjected to learning situations and to a variety of
drugs of interest in the treatment of the mentally ill. The
computerwill be used with low-level, low-frequency biological amp Iifiers, analog tape systems, and operant
conditioning equipment.

UNIVERSITY WILL USE PDP-7
TO STUDY LEARNING SITUATIONS
The Learning Research and Development Center of the
University of Pittsburgh will be using a PDP-7 computer
in an experiment control appl ication. The work in which
the PDP-7 will function is research into computer-based
instruction. The computer will control special-purpose
console devices developed at the university to analyze
learning situations.

'llanned analytical techniques include conventional forms
..... ..>f time series analysis and averaging, as well as less conventional techniques adapted to problems of pattern recognition.

Previous experiments util ized simple logic devices of I imited capacity to sequence either printed orfilmed subject
matter--turning pages ofa book, for example, or running
a slide projector automatically. Use of the computer is
expected to provide greater flexibil ity for the experimenters.

*****

*****

draw a resistor each time one appears on the screen;
we only need a call to the resistor subroutine which
draws and defines it.

DECADE
CHARLES W. STEIN
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
ABSTRACT
DECADE (Digital Equipment Corporation's Automatic DEsign
System) is the resu It of an effort to perform engineer/computer commun"ication via a display and Iight pen. This system
provides the interface between man and machine using the
general language of schematic drawing. Coupled with the
system are some analysis programs which can produce wire
lists, automatic wiring machine cards, and parts lists. The
system is general enough to allow user-written analysis programs.

There are advantages in having a small computer system.
Computer-aided design is now within the reach 0 f ma.
s~aller firms which could not afford a large system. DECA.:
wd I sell for approximately $200,000. Although it performs
a smaller task, this task now costs industry mi II ions of dollars. By speeding up many of the jobs now done manually,
we reduce both the cost and the frequency of error.
THE HARDWARE
The figure below shows a sketch of the basic hardware configuration.
DECADE HARDWARE

THE SYSTEM
(D)

M.I.L, Boeing, I.B.M., C.D.C., United Aircraft, and
Lockheed, among others, are involved in "Computer-Aided
Design. 1I Magazine artic les illustrate computer-aided design
by showing a man sitting at a computer-driven scope, holding a light pen and displaying on the screen a bridge, an
automobile, airplane wings, or some such complex mechanical device.
This type of system is suitable for an aircraft or bridge bui Iding company • However, there are many firms which need a
smaller version of computer-aided design for the problems
which tend to be more specific such as schematics. Some
companies are devoted to schematic drawing almost exclusively, while others spend eighty to ninety per cent of their
time producing schematic drawings. We feel that if a man
cou Id give such a drawing to a computer, rather than a generalized mechanical drawing, he could reduce his company's
drafting effort considerably. Furthermore, if some programs
existed which analyze the schematic and produce listings,
other areas of the company's design effort wou Id be reduced.
DECADE permits such input on low-cost hardware. Schematic drawings can be sent to the computer through the use
of a Teletype, Iight pen, and push-button control.
We define a schematic as the graphic representation of a
system in terms of a set of standard symbo Is. Li nes connect
groups of symbols to indicate some relationship between
them. Text is used to describe the symbols and connections.
A programming flow chart, a PERT chart, a logic diagram,
and a wiring diagram all fall into our definition of schematic. Schematic drawing was chosen because many of the
problems inherent in the general system are eliminated. In
the past, computer-aided design systems required a largescale, general-purpose computer; however, when we limit
the input to a schematic, less core storage is needed. With
the replacement of magnetic tapes with DECtapes, the system's cost is reduced further.
Less core storage is required in DECADE than in the genera I
system for the following reasons:
1.

The standard symbols are topologically defined
within themselves. The fact that a symbol is a
resistor says many things that the general system
must state in fu II each time a resistor is called.

2.

Since the set of symbols is predefined, we need
on Iy to prescribe it once in core.

For example:
It is not necessary to duplicate all the vectors which

OUTPUT OPTIONS

I,'

i

, !~ -I.~' 1- !-II' ~
i

i

I

I

PDP-7

i
~I

J_DR_A_WI_N_G(--,:)CNSOLE

I

"~II ~I

,;,~:,

r

I

Display

~"D

I

Light Pen

L - _( - B ) - - - + - - - - - l !

1

I

1.

8K PDP-7 Computer

2.

Four DECtape Drives

3.

Console

I

The console consists of a display and light pen, teletype, and push-button controls.
4.

Output Option
The system must provide some means for hard copy output. The des ire d output is in two forms: schematic
drawings and printed output. There are two output
options. The first consists of a line printer and a display-driven Ca IComp Plotter. The second uses the Type
31 Ultra-Precision (4096 x 4096 grid) Display, computer-controlled camera and automatic film processor,
and fi Im-to-hard-copy equipment.

SOFTWARE
The software package is divided into two parts. The first
part is the information retrieval system (IRS) which is used
to keep track of the drawings a Iready done on the s y s t e m.
The second part is the actual graphical input program (GIP).
Using the light pen, typewriter, and push buttons, the user
can "draw" some type of schematic.
SYMBOL GENERATION
Each symbol has been given a tag or name. To call a symbol
on the screen, the user types II G. II The system wi II type
back three spaces, and then the user types in the tag and a
line feed.

When a symbol is called, it appears in the lower left corner of the screen.
The system provides for the use of a 2211 x 34 11 drawing. It
is obvious that it would be impossible todrawthis size drawiOg on a 9-inch square screen; thus, we have two sca les 0 f
~ration. Sca Ie 0 shows the en t ire 22" x 34 11 drawing,
(
11
;:,.eatly reduced. Displayed in the picture is a 2 1/4 square.
Imagine this as a picture frame and position the frame over
some section of the drawing. Depressing SC L causes that
section to be blown up four times. Depressing SCL again
returns you to the original scale.
The standard drafting procedure is to pick a section of a
drawing, blow it up, and work on it unti I it has been completed; then move the frame and resume. A symbol can be
called on the screen at both scales. Typing G and then the
tag causes the symbol to be "I ive. II There is a table which
keeps track of the "I ive" symbols. The C LR button clears
this table. The III ive ll symbols are affected as a group by
the POS, ROT, DUP, DEL, YES, and NO buttons. The
IIlive ll symbols are brighter than the others.
Another way to produce a "live ll symbol is with the SEL or
select button. The buttons POS, ROT, DUP, DEL, YES,
and NO, operate on "Iive ll symbols.

TEXT
Genera lIy I there are three types of text information: symbol descriptions, connection descriptions, and drawing descriptions. Text is displayed as a block of characters which
are positioned left justified to the light pen. It is necessary
that the system understand wh ich type of text the user wants,
~herefore, we use the light pen to point either to a symbol,
:onnechvn, or nothing (space). I f the user moves the
,ulght pen, the text received thus far will move with it •
Typing the carriage return key, the user returns to a point
directly under the light pen. When the text is in and positioned properly, a line feed terminates the message. From
then on, the text block is dependent on the item it references. If the text references a symbol and the symbol is
moved or deleted, the text moves or disappears also. In the
case of text which references the drawing, it is stationary
and shou Id be thought of as a symbol.

(

CONCLUSION
A man-machine interface system which operates on a small
computer has been described. This system is currently under
development, and is by no means the fina I version of the
system.
Below are a few refinements:

1.

2.

0 n e problem is that most companies have huge
amounts of information now on microfilm. A desirable program would be one which reads microfi 1m and recognizes patterns to generate semiautomatically the internal topological structure of
that drawing.
Some general-purpose routines need to be written
which would work on the data. Examples of such
programs might be a PERT/COST System, a FLOW
CHART COMPILER, a WIRE LIST GENERATOR, a
PARTS LIST GENERATOR, and ma ny others. As
one works with the system, new appl ic..ations become apparent. The information necessary is in
core or on ta pe for any of these systems.

3.

With additional core, a time-sharing system could
be written which wou Id swap the internal list structure in and out of core and cou Id han die many
consoles. This task would be easier if the 338 Buffered Display were used. It would be necessary,
however, to make the system sensitive to more than
one control console. Then, the requ ired descriptioncould be loaded from drum, modified, and
sh i pped to the 338.

This system is general enough that a mu Ititude of problems
cou Id be solved.

Automated Television Computer-Scanner
To Identify Bacteria, Infectious Agents
A novel automated "television-computer" machine for identifying bacteria, viruses, and other infectious agents and for studying their properties and requirements will be constructed at the lJniversity of California, Berkeley, with funds from
the Public Health Service.
medical specimens and biological
A 5-year program is planned, at
systems.
an estimated total Federal cost of
This "television-computer" com$1.24 million, with a first-year
bination, he said, hopefully will
grant of $629,038. The grant supmake it possible for a research
porting the project will be adminlaboratory or a hospital to incuistered by the National Institute
bate a specimen for only 12 to 18
of General Medical Sciences.
hours before identifying and countThe main purpose of the proing the numbers of bacteria of
gram wiII be to make an intensive each known kind contained in the
study of the hereditary characterspecimen. This now usually takes
istics of bacteria and other microabout 48 hours.
organisms. The study wiII aim to
Scanner Speeds Process
find out what minerals, vitamins,
The time reduction could be acand foods they need to survive;
complished by noting the colony
what drugs, poisons, and other
structure, rate of growth on variagents they are able to resist; and
ous nutrients, and other charactertheir behavior at high and low temistics by means of the scanner,
peratures, under various lighting
which will be able to make deterconditions, and under exposure to
minations with high precision and
a variety of environments.
great speed even on very small
Studies Provide Clues
colonies.
Results of these studies may pro"Once this identification has been
vide important clues as to how
made," Dr. Glaser pointed out, "the
these smallest of all living creacomputer can direct the automatic
tures function and how they
petri dish machine to spray penievolved into their modern forms.
cillin and a variety of other drugs
The automated system, which
on the growing microbial colonies
will include a high-speed electronic
in order to determine the drug senscanner-computer, may enable physitivities of possible disease-caussicians to diagnose bacterial and
ing organisms which are found."
other microbial disesases in oneWith this automatic system, it is
third to one-fourth of the time now
believed that identification of the
required. This could save many
causative organism and determinalives now lost because of delays in
tion of its drug sensitivity or rebeginning specific drug treatment
sistance can be made much faster
pending diagnosis.
and with higher reliability than is
The program, proposed by Dr.
possible with present hospital techDonald A. Glaser, Professor of
niques.
Physics and Molecular Biology at
It is expected that essentially
the university, will be under his
the same techniques will be useful
immediate direction. The objective
for monitoring levels of contamination of food, water, and medical
of Dr. Glaser's program is to consupplies where it is important to
struct a high-speed electronIc scanknow how many living organisms
ner-computer for automatic "visare present and of what kinds.
ual" observation and analysis of

Reprinted from the NIH Record,
May 18, 1965, Vo I. XV II, No. 10

Editor1s Note: The computer (mentioned in the above
article) which will be used by Dr. Glaser in h is experiments is the PDP-6.

COMPUTER OPTIONS
PROGRAMMED BUFFERED DISPLAY
TYPE 338
The Digital Equipment Corporation Type 338 Buffered Display permits rapid conversion of digital computer data
into graphic and tabu lar form. Its combined capabilities
offer the user an unusual degree of versati lity and accuracy.
A self-contained unit with built-in control and power
suppl ies, the Type 338 requires only logic level inputs
for operation and may be easily connected to any digital
system as a buffered display with processor, or it may
stand alone as a powerful computer-driven display system.
Location of any desired point may be specified by any of
the 1024-X and 1024-Y coordinate addresses contained
in a 9-3/8" square on the tube face. Discrete points may
be plotted in any sequence at a rate of 30 ,",sec per point
in the point mode. In the increment, vector, vector continue, and character modes, a plotting rate of 1 ,",sec per
point is possible. Magnetic deflection and focusing techniques result in uniform resolution over the entire usable
areaof the tube face and maximum spot size of approximately 0.15" when measured by shrinking raster techniques. Construction is solid state throughout with excellent stability

AUTOMATIC SENSING OF DISPLAY FLAGS
Control state also permits the display to jump conditioned on
the states of its own flags (I ight pen flag, edge flag, stop
fl ag, etc.). This reduces th e number of program i nterrupts to the PDP-8.
AUTOMATIC CHARACTER GENERATION
In addition to automatic line generation, the display hardware
can display characters specified by 6-bit codes. Each
character is displayed in an average of 15 ,",sec.
The
COMMUNICATION WITH DISPLAYREGISTERS
contentsofthex-y position registers and the display address counter can be read into the accumu lator of the
PDP-8 via lOT instructions. Likewise, the display used
for starting the display or setting up certain control conditions.
All of the above features tend to make the programming
job for a given application easier. The programmer not
onlyhasapowerful computer to generate the display, to
control interfaces to external data sources, or to handle
real-time requests, but he also has a powerful display
that can operate at a high degree of independence "'om
the computer.

0

The 338 Buffered Display is a stored programmed system
that was designed with the programmer in mind. Some of
the capabilities of the display are listed below.
DATA ACQUISITION BY CYCLE STEALING
The
display receives 12-bit data and control words from the
PDP-8 memory via the PDP-8 data break channel. The
Data Break Channel is a high-speed (1 .5 ,",sec/word), direct access channel that passes words to the display transparently to the program in execution.
DISPLAY MODES
Each display mode, such as vector,
increment, character, point, vector continue, or short
vector, specifies the manner in which points are to be
displayed on the screen.
CONTROL STATE
All modes can specify that the
display enter the control state in which 12-bit words are
decoded as instructions to change display parameters,
change mode, orchangetheaddressof access to the computer memory.
AUTOMATIC SCISSORING
Thedisplay can be programmed to represent a 10" x 10" square window viewing a 6 1 x 6 1 drawing. This window can easi Iy be moved
around the drawing by simple translation of coordinates.
Only the areaofthe6 1 x 6 1 drawing corresponding to the
10" x 10" display window will be seen.
MULTILEVEL SUBROUTINING
The control state
permits the display to jump from accessing one location
in the PDP-8 memory to any other. When it is desired to
jump to a display subroutine, the return address is automatically stored in a push-down list.

COMPUTER INTERCOMMUNICATION
SYSTEM TYPE 165
The 165 series options provide a data intercommunication
path between PDP-6 arithmetic processors/memories and
up to eight PDP-7 or PDP-8 computers. PDP-6 arithmetic processors directly address (to read or write data) the
PDP-7 or PDP-8 memories as PDP-6 memory (with only
12- or 18-bit words). These peripheral computer memories have both their own address, and addresses in the
PDP-6 addressing space.
Jobs or data may be set up in a peripheral computer, then
a flag set to interrupt PDP-6, followed by PDP-6 computation using the PDP-7 or 8 memory. Data may be block
transferred from 36-bit memory to 12- or 18-bit memory
using the block transmission instruction, programs may be
loaded from PDP-6 memory into peripheral computer memories under control of the PDP-6 Monitor, etc.
Interrupt flags can be used to interrupt either PDP-7/8
or PDP-6. Two sets of fI'Olgs are pro vi d e d for each
PDP-7/8.

The functions performed by the peripheral computers might
include I/O control, Teletype control and formatting,
display maintenance, data gathering, etc. while thel
PD P-6 would coordinate peripheral efforts, do block computation, and serve as the main job processor.

DECUS PROGRAM LIBRARY
3.

PDP-1 PROGRAM LIBRARY
C9rrection to DECUS No. 81 - CalComp Plotter Software
("

the PD P- 1

The FAST Writer and FAST Reader are general programs, but
the FAST Loader contains the information specified above
which must be modified to suit particular programs.

Change:
Programming Language to:

Midas

Hardware Requirements to:

Calcomp Plotter, 4K Core
Memory, 800 bpi magnetic tape

PDP-5 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DEC US NO. 5- 19
Title:

DDT -5-2 OCTAL-SYMBOLIC DEB U G GIN G
SYSTEM

Author:

Michael S. Wolfberg, Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania

Description: DDT -5~2 is an octal-symbolic debugging program for the PDP-5 which occupies locations 5600 through
7677. It is able to merge a symbol table punched by PAL II
and stores symbols, 4 locations per symbol, from 5577 down
towards 0000. The mnemonics for the eight basic instructions and various OPR and lOT group instructions are initially defined (see DEC-5-1-S Attachment II, p. 21), and the
highest avai lable location for the user is initially 5373.

t

the Teletype, the user can symbolically examine and
_ ify the contents of any memory location. DDT -5 allows
t e user to punch a corrected program in BI N format.
"."Tl

DDT-5 has a breakpoint facility to he'lpthe user run sections
of his program. When this faci Iity is used, the debugger
also uses location 0005.

In normal use, once the FAST Loader and FAST Writer have
prepared a DECtape for system use, only the FAST Reader
need be uti lized; this program is commonly designated FAST.
FAST occupies memory locations 17600 - 17747, the portion
normally allocated to the Funny Format Loader. Most programs therefore wi II not destroy FAST. However, the Assembler overlays FAST with the Funny Format Loader which it
cannibalizes for its own use, and the Fortran Compi ler wipes
out portions of FAST if the programs compi led are complex
enough. For convenience, the Read-In version of FAST
loads the RIM Loader as we II (locations 17762 - 17777) but
this is almost never destroyed.
'
If any program containing a Funny Format Loader is read into the computer through RIM START, this wi II destroy FAST.
Conversely, FAST will destroy the linking loader of a Fortran main program, so that subroutines wi II not be loaded
properly. When using FAST with Fortran programs, therefore, FAST should be loaded after all subprograms and the
Iibrary have been loaded. It can then be used to ca II the
Operating Time System.
DECUS NO. 7-3
Title:

CUS - CONSOLE UTILITY SYSTEM

Author:

Allen Rousseau, Adams Associates

Description: CUS is an octal debugging and utility system.
It consists of the following routines.
1•

Octal Correcting Routines - to examine and/or
correct the contents of any core memory location
with the option of punching a correction tape in
RIM mode.

2.

Word Search Routine - to examine the contents
of a specified portion of core memory for a particular bit pattern and print the address of the
register (or registers) if found.

3.

Octal Dump - top r in t and/or punch {i n RIM
mode} the contents of a continuous section of
core memory specified by the user. The printout is 1-8 words per line as specified by the user.

4.

Compare Tape Equal Routine (What's Changed) to compare a RIM tape with the corresponding
area of core memory and type out the contents of
the tape and core words which differ. The contents of core memory are not altered. What's
changed can be used to verify a newly punched
tape or compare current memory contents with a
previously punched tape for debugging.

5.

Jump Options - The user may jump to any location in memory with interrupt on and off.

6.

Transfer Routine - permits transfer of any section
of core to some other section.

7.

Fi II Routine - Permits fi II ing of designated area
of core with desired octal constant.

This program has nearly all the features of DDT for the PDP1. The meaning of the control characters of ODT (DEC-55-S) are. the same in DDT -5.
PDP-7 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DECUS NO. 7-2
Title:

FAST START

Author:

P. Bevington, Stanford University

Description: FAST (Fast Acquisition of System Tapes) is a
monitor written for the DEC PDP-7 to retrieve frequently
used programs from DECtape. The FAST monitor includes
three programs:
1.

2.

The FAST Reader transfers a program from DECtape into the computer memory in the locations
specified by the first block of DEGtape.

The FAST Loader writes information into the first
block of a DECtape, listing for each of the programs stored on that tape: (a) the starting block
for each program, (b) the first location in memory occupied by the 'program, (c) the number of
locations allocated, and (d) the starting location.
The FAST Writer transfers a program from the computer memory to the portion of DECtape specified
by the first block.

NEW DECUS MEMBERS
PDP-4 DELEGATES

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

Miss Eleanor M. Bowey
linear Accelerator Group
Nuclear Physics Division
Atomic Energy Research Establishment
Harwell
Berkshire, England

R. D. Egan
Granger Assoc iates
Palo Alto, California

Peter N. Mart i no
C hose Brass and Copper Company
Montpe Iier Division
Montpelier, Ohio

PDP-5 DELEGATES
Francis L. Durfee
Penn-Dixie Cement Corporation
Petoskey, Michigan
Michael S. Wolfberg
Moore School of Electrical Engineering
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Larry T. Ge II
C hose Brass and Copper Company
Montpelier, Ohio
Robert L. Gill
Penn-Dixie Cement Corporation
Petoskey, Michigan
Robert Glaser
Learning Research and Development Center
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nancy L. Hurley
Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
C. A. Josling
Department of Mines and
Technical Surveys
Ottawa, Ontario

PDP-5/8 DELEGATE
David I. Benton
The Foxboro Company
Natick, Massachusetts
PDP-6 DELEGATE
Heinz Weber
Physika Iisches Institut
Technische Hochschu Ie
Aachen, Germany
PDP-7 DELEGATE
George T. Torrero
Aeronutronic
Division of Phi leo Corporation
Newport Beach, California

PDP-8 DELEGATES
Gordon F. MacGinitie
Granger Associates
Palo Alto, California
R. S. Robinson
Psychiatry Department
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California

Thomas C. Lowe
Moore School of Electrical Engineering
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Stephen F. Lundstrom
Applied Dynamics
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dr. James R. 01 iver
University of Southwestern Louisiana
Lafayette, Louisiana
Walter A. J. Mi lIer
C hose Brass and Copper Company
Montpelier, Ohio
Robert T. Rizzo
29 Concord Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Stuart L. Sharpe
Ur.ited Aircraft Corporation
Research Laboratori es
East Hartford, Connecticut
Paul Weinberg
University of Pennsylvania
Phi ladelphia, Pennsylvania

DECUSCOPE
DiGiTAL EQUiPMENT COiviPUTER USERS SOCIETY
MAYNARD,

MASSACHUSETTS / TEL.

897-8821 / TWX

710 347-0212

JULY-AUGUST 1965
Vol. 4 Nos. 7 and 8

CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTERS
David

H. Brand

Systems Research Laboratories Inc.
Dayton, Ohio

I NTRODUCTI ON
Clinical Applications of Computers presents in moderate detai I those areas considered important in providing the physi~ ian medica I assistance by way of computers. These areas in
_ xder of development are: patient monitoring, data· reduction, and medical diagnosis. Many of the classic problems
are given with an expose' of inadequate, state-of-the-art
solutions. Concluding remarks outline the most probable
long-range plan for successfully IImarryingll the physician
and the computer.
Ever since serious thought has been given to computer applications in medicine (dating back to 1954 and 1955, such
articles as II Use of Record Cards in Practice, Prescription,
and Diagnostic Records" by Baylund and Baylund and II Diagnosis by Slide Rule ll by Abbot Laboratories), attempts have
been made to provide better clinical support to the physician
via a digital computer. Techniques by necessity have been
vague due to thesubjective nature of processes found to be
effective by the physician. Attempts at deve loping these
techniques h a v e pretty we II covered the gamut of issues
which are of concern to the physician in the three aforementioned are(ls.
Engineers, as well as "systems" people, have contributed to
designing computers which are more easi Iy accessible to the
physic ian. The resu It has been an active competition for a
small digital computer with an inherent flexibility of stored
programs, the speed of larger computers, and an abundance
of analog input/output. Within the past year, we have witnessed the announcement of severa I such computers all of
which have characteristics simi lar to the AFCRL LI NC. An
important common feature is the digital display which is
'".lpable of presenting waveforms in a manner useful to the
lysician and is the major output device for computation
resu Its.

.J..•

PATIENT MONITORING
What is patient monitoring? Let us think of it as a technique

which enables a physician to evaluate certain aspects of
patient condition at any time. The distinction between monitoring (in a II right now" sense) and regression to past responses is certainly clear both in concept and method. Patient
monitoring represents the ultimate in patient care assum ing
that the evaluation based on the data is correct and can
incorporate the non-quantifiable subjectivity of the physic ian
to fi Iter out the unwanted transients and pol ish the resu Its or
i nte rpretat ions.
The potential benefits of patient monitoring are clear. Unfortunately the methods are not and many National Institutes
of Health dollars, as well as United States Air Force dollars,
have been spent for the purpose of clarifying these methods.
In other words/much effort has been expended in attempting
to answer the simple question: what is an effective way to
monitor a patient? a v e r y sick patient? In engineering
terms, then, the question becomes: how can we best collect
and display time-variant patient information?
In general, there is a mismatch between the physician and
the computer. This particu lar problem is slowly being resolved by appropriate man-machine interaction techniques
which are finding their way into various medical journals
and medical school curricula. Most of these techniques
emphasize the need to reach a conceptual level of communication which is c loser to the physician than to the computer.
An example of 0 n e such communication technique is an
analog display of trend with outstanding "points of interest"
clearly marked.
However, the real difficu Ity in patient monitoring is not the
communication problem, which is a finite time-consuming
factor in designing usefu I systems; but rather is the determination of what comprises a usefu I system. This difficu Ity
can be divided into four parts.
1.

The inability to easily, accurately and continuously measure the body fun c t ion s which are given
to be important in evaluating patient con d i t ion.

2.

The ina b iii t y of the physic ian to understand and
i n t e r pre t second-to-second or beat-to-beat variations within a body function regardless of which one.

3.

The determination of w hat data to save and what to
ignore rea liz i n g that it is currently impractica I to
record all data. This d i ffi cu I ty would be reduced
if adequate mathematical models and alarming con d itions for physiological responses were avai lab Ie.

4.

The rea lis tic inaccessibi Iity of data - both present
and past - to the modern physician.

Presently, we know how to measure many body functions, or
variables, satisfactori Iy. Surface electrodes in most cases
are sufficient to de r i ve electrocardiograms, electromyograms, pu Ise waveforms, etc. Consequently, there is little
reason to question ease and accuracy in sensing body variables and related measures which resu It from surface transducer methods. There is reason, however, to question the
meaning of most of these surface measurements to the physician. Today's physicians readily agree that the concept of
high resolution of va ria t ion in most body measurements
(heart rate, core temperature, blood pressure, etc.) is too
new to have physiological meaning. What does the heart
rate average over the last ten minutes really mean? Or, how
about the frequency distribution of the systolic blood pressure over the past eight hours?
The new dimension of available, or potentially available,
physiological data is overwhelming. Medical electronics
has been concerned with the high resolution measurement of
standard, clinical variables. Bu t, for patient monitoring
purposes, are these really the variables which are important
in evaluating pat i e n t condition? Probably not. A concensus of several prominent physicians, who have supported
the patient monitoring issue, is that the list of monitored
variables must include measures of stgte of consciousness,
cgrdigc 0 u t put, and venous pressure. Currently, direct,
continuous measurement of any of these three is not possible.
Dr. Nei I Burch, Baylor University, has bee n working on
what he calls an EEG signature recognition device which
has been designed to quantify, more or less, the state of
consciousness. Mathematical models to give cardiac output
and other cardiac variables indirectly from surface measurements have not yet been refined to the point of general usefulness, thus, cannot be used for patient monitoring.
Determiningwhat data to save is as important as determining
what data to collect. One certainly cannot afford to save
all of the data and, in fact, most of the data does not contain enough new information (as defined by current techniques) for the physician to evaluate in terms of unusual
patterns or change phenomena. What, then, do we keep?
What information is useful in deciding patient condition?
It is probably not so-called "out-of-limits" data which perturbs the basic physiological system to the extent of endangering its stability. Some may ask: what is a limit? How can
patient monitoring inform a physician of an "alarming" condition?
Many experiments have been tried regarding the development of optimal alarming devices for the purposes of reducing the amount of data considered while monitoring
patients. These have in v 0 I v e d setting upper and lower
bounds somewhat arbitrari Iy, but based on experience. The
idea is to sound an alarm (perhaps physically with a bell or
buzzer) whenever the physiologica I measurement crosses the
boundaries. For examplej' c physician may feel that a heart
rate be low 40 or above 120 is particu larly distressfu I for a
certain patient. Thus, he wou Id be informed -- by some

means- -of every instance when the heart rate was out of
limits. People who have tried this, as well as other esoteric
devices, under the auspices of National Institutes of Hea Ith
and other agencies have withdrawn their efforts--hopefully
temporari Iy -- in disappointment and dismay. The inhere~­
nature of man defies simple description of system instabi Iitylj
thus, confounds the problem of data storage for effective
patient monitoring.
The problems in data storage are linked closely with those
problems encountered in data reduction, which is discussed
later. We can assume, for now, that we have successfully
quantized meaningful physiological variables. The fourth
area of patient monitoring difficu Ities is in the accessibi Iity
of the data to the physician. Themodern physician tends to
be lion the gO.1I Hemighthavetwo or three offices and work
in several different hospitals. In short, he is hard to find;
and when he is avai lable, he desires finger-tip knowledge
of the condition of all his patients.
Discussions with medi cal people, in particu lar at the M. D.
Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute in Houston, Texas,
who are among the leaders in patient monitoring studies,
have resulted in helpful suggestions regarding the design of
special "data-call ll devices which would be of use to the
physician. Most agree that a unit simi lar to that used in a
stockbroker's office providing nearly instantaneous current
and historical information with pushbuttons is desired. As
long as we are going automatic, we might just as well ask
for the ultimate in data recall techniques.
DATA REDUCTION
Having collected waveforms from a patient, you must decide,'
which variables are important for analysis or hypothesis test I
ing. This decision, initially, must be based on waveform
resolution and accuracy. In other words, what variables can
be derived from the waveforms collected? The data reduction issue, as mentioned earlier, handles problems encountered in data storage. The amount of storage required for
physiological information is generally inversely related to
the amount of data reduction performed as the term "data
reduction" would imply. Thus, the decision regarding techn iques of data reduction are secondari Iy based on amount of
storage available, and the hypotheses to be tested.
The variables which can be derived dictate empirically the
hypotheses which can be tested. If the physician is not able
to significantly expand or refine the set of possible hypotheses which he can test regarding patient condition, he will
reject the technique merely on the basis of simple logic: if
it is not better, why bother? Thus, we get back to the
question involving the state-of-the-art in medical instrumentation vs. interpretation of 0 b t a ina b I e physiological
variables by today's physicians from which we shall digress.
Mentioned previously, external body measurements are easy
to obtain via surface electrodes. Thermistors are good for
minute temperature changes all over the body, and good
approximations to core temperature can be made externally.
Temperature is an absolute quantity which requires no reduction. E I e c t rom a g net i can d me c han i c a I waveforms require reduction in order to resolve meaningful variations. The absolute measurements desired in these casE4'
are intervals (or frequency) and other points of interest whic.
contain relative rather than absolute information in their
variability. Examples are R-R interval and T-slope from the
electrocardiogram, alpha and beta rhythm from the electroencephalogram, and breathing rate and inspiration-expiration ratio from the respiration wave.

Neil Burch's work at Baylor promises to be a great step forward in the development of automatic data reduction techniques useful in deriving discrete points-of-interest variables from continuous waveforms. His latest efforts include
so-called signature recognition devices fo r galvanic skin
~esponses, electrocardiograms, and electroencephalograms.
In essence these devices are special-purpose analog computers with digital readouts which give beat-to-beat measurements as well as selected time interval measures. For patient
monitorinl=l, the sil=lnature recognition data reduction technique appfied to surface waveforms represents, as far as I
know today, state-of-the-art in effic ient physiologica I data
handling.

Another problem is definite need for more symptom-disease
data to refine estimates of conditional probabilities. In
practical treatment, however, the physician often arrives at
a therapy without a diagnosis. It is accepted without concern that the disease is not named provided the therapy resolves it. Thus, in these instances there is no such thing as
a diagnosis which resu Ited from associating symptoms with a
disease, the cure of which is straightforward. The therapy
proceeds directly from symptom changes using an inductive
process in competing hypotheses which is called differential
diagnosis. Computer assistance would be preferred in this
area.
CONCLUSION

MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS
An extremely controversial subject of the day in terms of
computers and medicine is the utilization of a computer for
medical diagnosis. As yet, medical diagnosis represents an
extremely complex decision-making situation which defies
automation. Many have tried to assign mathematical order
to the. diagnostic process, but in genera I have fai led even
though, in a few isolated cases, blood and heart diseases
have been successfu II y detected by computers.
The theory of decisions and their processes offer a potentially
vast spectrum of tools with which mat hem a tic ian scan
approach the diagnosis problem. This is evident from the
many fine papers by Ledley and Lusted on t e c h n i que s of
dec is ion processes as appl ied to medical diagnoses. The
earliest of these was entitled "Reasoning Foundations of
Medical Diagnosis" in July 1959 issue of Science and is an
excellent expose" on the subject with some very comprehensive, yet easily understandable, examples and illustrations.
This particular paper has been "sitting on the shelP' for over
f:jve years. Refinements of the techniques have been suggested in subsequent articles but essentially are just tastier
frost i ngs on the same cake.
The method Led ley and Lusted use incorporates a Bayesian
statistical approach with subjective probabi Iities. Downstream in the later stages of medical diagnosis they use game
theory with the usual elements of expected value functions
and minimax solutions to a two-person, zero-sum game. The
two persons are the physician and nature and the payoffmatrix has symptom rows and disease columns. The elements of
the payoff matrix are proportioned probabi Iistically from
empirical data-- in other words, a symptom and a disease
related byaprobability. Granted there are gross assumptions
necessary in this approach but currently it represents a likely
kind of solution.
An 0 the r techn ique was presented in May of 1964 at the
Second Annual Symposium in Biomathematics and Computer
Science in the Life Sciences by Martin Lipkin on liThe Likihood Approach in Differential Diagnosis. II Lipkin found that
the maximum likelihood solution to a medical diagnosis was
slightly more efficient than the Bayesian solution in identifying rare diseases when the symptom-disease conditional
probability is not very strong.
The problems in automating medical diagnosis are many and
elusive. The basic problem is that today's physicians are
not prepared to accept the mathematical model required to
automate the diagnosis even though many want to accept it.
They need more mathematica I statistics and probabil ity early
. in the stages of their training- -at the undergraduate level.
Baylor University is in the planning phase of remedying this
deficiency and recently there were tentative recommendations made for the undergraduate mathematics program of
students in the biological sciences.

My conc luding remarks are in terms of the current outlook
for the future application of computers in medicine. Many
researchers are optimistic and have adopted the "around the
ll
corner attitude. Nothing which represents a worthwhile,
universal application is just around the corner. It wi II, at
best, take almost another generation of physicians to bring
the future of computers in medicine into a strong position
where the principal tool of the average physician is a computer.
The conversational teaching machine approach by Mr. Wallace Feurzeig and Associates at Bolt Beranek and Newman,
Inc. presented in the June 1964 issue of Datamation appears
to be an excellent start of a long term program to bring the
physician c loser to the computer and c loser to accepting the
rea I worth of the speed of computers.
The computers of tomorrow usefu I in cl inical applications
certainly, will be parallel processors and hybrids.

BI BLI OGRAPHY
1.

Caceres, II Integration of Data in Diagnosis, II Circ. Res.
11, September 1962.

2.

C lynes, II Use of Computers for Physiological Discovery
and for Diagnosis by Dynamic Simu lation, II Circ. Res.
11, September 1962.

3.

Cogswell, "Clinical Diagnostic Models via Computer
Simulation, II SDC, AD286730, September 1962.

4.

IIComputer Procedure as Aid in Diagnosis, II J. Am. Med.
Assoc., 185, 4, July 27, 1963.

5.

DeHaven, II A Study of Blood by Chemical Analysis and
by Digital Computer: a Comparative Evaluation~ II Rand
Corp., AD400923, July 1963.

6.

II Electronic Diagnosing Device Displayed by Soviets,"
Electronic News, February 1960.

7.

Graziano, "Medical Diagnosis with Electronic Computers: an Annotated Bibliography," Lockheed Aircraft,
AD407945, October 1963.

8.

Klienmetz, "APortraitoftheComputer as aYoungClinician,lI Behav. Sci., Vol. 8, April 1963.

9.

Ledley and Lusted, "Medica I Diagnosis and Modern
Decision Making,lI Proc. Symp. Appl. Math. Am.
Math. Soc., Providence, ~. I., Vol. 14, 1962.

10. Ledley and Lusted, "Medical Diagnosis Aided by Digital Computers," Proc. 1961 Comput. Appl ications
~., Chicago, October 1961.
11. Lipkin, liThe Likelihood Approach in Differential Diagnosis," Second Annual Symp. on Bimath. and Compo
Sciences in the Life Sciences., May 1964.

12. Lusted, II Applications of Computers in Diagnosis, II
Rei.., 11, September 1962.

~.

PROGRAMMING NOTES

13. Lusted, "Data Hand Iing, Computers, and Diagnosis, II
Proc. IRE., Vol. 50, May 1964.
14. Overall, "Criteria for Evaluating Diagnostic Decision
Making, II Second Annual Symp. on Bimath. and Compo
Sciences in the life Sciences, May 1964.
15. Pipberger, H., II Problems in Computation of Differential Diagnosis for ECG. II Second Annual Symp. on Bimath. and Compo Sciences in the life Sciences, May
1964.
16. Sterling, IIClinical Applications in Medicine,lI Digest
of Tech. Papers ACM Nat. Conf., Syracuse, N.Y.,
September 1962.
17 • Wheeler, II Base line for Evaluating Automatic Equipment. Is it Good for the Patients?" Hospitals, 36,
September 1962.
18. Woodson, liT h e Concept of Competing Hypothesis in
Medical Diagnosis, II Second Annual Sym. on Bimath.
and Compo Sciences in the life Sciences, May 1964.

PROGRAM EVALUATION (DECAL-BBN)
R.J. Zavadil, Air Force Tet:hnical Application Center
We have been using DECAL-BBN exclusively since receipt
of the September 1963 version, and it has performed quite
well.
The Linking Loader supplied operates satisfactorily; however, the reader clutch chatters excessively. The linking
Loader has been patched to read with no wait for a completion pulse and to use the status bit for program synchronization. This seems to be a worthwhi Ie change.
The Libetape Maker works satisfactori IYi however, it wi II
sometimes start to execute and try to read the tape before
sense switch 5 is changed. This may be a hardware problem
with our PDP-1 and has not been traced any further.
The DECAL-BBN compiler works very well except for the
following troubles:
1.

EDITOR'S NOTE
This article was the last of three initial presentations given
during a panel discussion on PDP Applications in Medicine
and Biology held at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
during the DECUS Fall 1964 Symposium. Because we were
not able to print the complete panel discussion, it was not
included in the Proceedings of the meeting.

A subroutine that begins:
table:
subrx '

loc table-1
dap exit

The "Ioc ll instruction compi les incorrectly.
part of the word conta i ns 77 instead of 00.
2.

The instruction

A program:
org 7634
law 200

getter l

body of program

CALL FOR PAPERS
startsys I
Inserted in this issue is the "call for papers ll for the Fall 1965
DECUS Symposium. We ask that you post this announcement
or circulate it within your insta lIation. Thank you.
DECUS Meetings Committee

imp main
imp getter ... this instruction is in
address 7777

The instruction "imp getter ll in address 7777 does not load
correctly. The address part contains 7777 instead of the address of getter.
3.

A program:
at ewd 0000

body of program

adr at = addr 1
DECUSCOPE is published monthly for Digital Equipment
Computer Users Society (DECUS).
Material for publication should be sent to: Mrs. Angela
J. Cossette, DECUS, Maynard, Massachusetts 01754.
Publ ications Chairman: Joseph Lundy, Inforonics, Inc.
Circulation: 1,400 copies per month

The line "adr at
compi les as:

=>

addr1 does not compile correctly. It

dac 0744 • •• the address 0744 is
generated by DECAL as
law 0744 ... a tmp storage area
dac addrl

NEWS ITEMS

The line should compi Ie as:
law at
dac addr1
4.

A program that uses a floating-point interpreter:

body of program
efm
lac
sub
dac
Ifm
efm
lac
add
dac
Ifm
imp

2
a
b
c

a
b
b

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
A symposium on Economics of Automatic Data Processing
wi II be he Id in Rome on October 19-22, 1965, at the Internationa I Computation Centre. The sessions wi II be held in
three forms: plenary sessions, panels, and general and symposium sessions. The papers presented wiii be in Engiish and
French. For further information and advance programs
write to:
Symposium on Economics of ADP
lnternationa I Computation Centre
Viale della Civilta del Lavoro, 23
P . O. Box 1 0053
Rome (E. U. R.) Italy

somewhere
DIGITAL PROGRAM LIBRARY NEWS

The last occurrence of lIefmll does not have a number specifying the number of words for floating-point values. After
the tape is read by DECAL, it goes into a loop and punches
unending blank tape.

NESTED DO LOOPS
Jim Miller, Dow Badische Chemical Company
A programming possibility that is not covered in the FORTRAN manual is to have a nested DO loop with a variable
limit.
For example, suppose a DO loop has been initiated:
;DO 20 J=l, 11
It is possible to have a DO loop nested:
;DO 10 L=l,J
Where J is changed, of course, on each cycle through the
major DO.

PROGRAM FOR CHECKING PARITY OF 36-BIT
NUMBERS WITH EAE INSTRUCTIONS
Phi Iip R. Bevington, Stanford University
/Number in AC + MQ
cll
rar
par i ty, norm
sna
imp .+4
and (1777777)
cml
imp parity

I
Recently, the latest version of PD P-8 Abstracts was mai ed
to all PDP-5/8 installations. Users who did not receive a
copy or who need additional copies shou Id contact Miss Joan
Cowles, Digita I Program Librarian.
Changes or additions to this list will be published in future
issues of DECUSCOPEi and periodically, updated lists will
be mailed to the PDP-5/8 installations. New users will receive the latest abstracts in the write-up notebook sent with
each computer.
PDP-7 FOR PHOTO ANALYSIS STUDIES
The Aeronutronics Division of Ford Motor Company in Newport Beach, Cal if., Will be using a PDP-7 computer for use
in an experimenta I fi 1m-scanning operation.
A long-term goal of the work is to mechanize and automate
as many of the steps as possible in detecting and ana Iyzing
the data contained in aerial photographs. Shortening the
time needed to perform the mapping task in scanning films·
is an example of the improvements that may be possible
through using computer techniques.
A processor bui It by Aeronutronics for U. S. Army Engineer
Geodesy, Intelligence and Mapping Research and Development Agency of the COIPS of Engineers will gather data from
the film-scanning and forward it to the PDP-7 for manipulation and analysis. Various readouts from the PDP-7 will
be available to provide the experimenters with analytical
results developed by the computer for study by interpreters.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY USING DISPLAY SYSTEM
The Mathematical Laboratory of Cambridge University is using a display control system for research into man-machine
communications and computer-aided design.

/Exits with AC=MQ=O
/ After bits checked
JUnk = 0 for even parity
/Link = 1 for odd parity

The system consists of a PDP-7 computer with 8192-word
core memory and an incrementa I CRT display and Iight pen.
The display functions as a subcomputer I obtaining data and
instructions directly form the PDP-7 core memory. It has
random point, vector, increment, and other plotting modes.

DECUS PROGRAM LIBRARY

PDP-l PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DECUS No. 82

COMPUTER SYSTEM TO PROCESS
GRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Pictured above is the PDP-5 Computer and Type 340 Prec ision Incremental CRT Display system installed in the Signal and Information Processing Research Department of the
Be II Telephone La bora tor ies, Murray Hill, New Jersey.

The computer and display form the heart of a new interaction system which wi II be used both to enter and to rece ive
graphical data in the Laboratories' Computing Center. This
interaction system has access to the main computational facilities between normal problem runs.
A core buffer will be used to store output information for
display on the scope and to receive new input information
so that the display system functions independently between
interactions. The PDP-5 computer monitors the display operation and also controls a Type 370 High Speed Light Pen
for use in entering or modifying data.
Other elements of the system are Digital's Type 137 Analogto-Digital Converter and Type 451 A Card Reader and Control.
The purpose of the system is to allow quick looks at graphs,
diagrams, and other information and to faci Iitate the rapid
interchange of information between problem solver and computer needed in man-machine interaction problems.

Title:

FORTRAN for the PDP-l

Authors:

Developed by the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) and the Geotechnical Corporation.

The FORTRAN Compiler for the PDP-l is not intended to be
a replacement language for the other compiler and assembly
languages already in use on the PDP-1i however, it is useful for short programs which may easily be coded in FORTRAN. Version I of the FORTRAN system for the PDP-1
uses mus and dis instructionsi and mpy and dvd subroutines.
Version II is for mpy, dvd and hardware.
PDP-5 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DECUS No. 5/8-20
Title:

Remote Operator FORTRAN System

Author:

James Miller, Dow Badische Chemical Company

Program modifications and instructions to make the FORTRAN OTS version dated 2/12/65 operated from remote
stations.
DECUS No. 5/8-21
Title:

Triple Precision Arithmetic Package for the
PDP-5 and the PDP-8

Author:

Joseph A. Rodnite, Information Control Systems,
Inc.

This is an arithmetic package to operate on 36-bit signed
integers. The operations are add, subtract, multiply, divide, input conversion, and output conversion. Triple precision routines have a higher level of accuracy for work
such as accounting. The largest integer which may be represented is 235 -lor 10 decimal digits. The routines simulate a 36-bit (3 word) accumulator in core locations 40, 41,
and 42 and a 36-bit multipl ier quotient register in core locations 43, 44, and 45.
Aside from the few locations in page 0, the routines use less
core storage space than the equivalent double-precision
routines.
DECUS No. 5/8-22

STOCKHOLM ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TO
STUDY ADAPTIVE CONTROL WITH PDP-7 SYSTEM

Title:

DECtape DUPLICATE

Author:

E. Jacob, Dow Badische Chem ical. Company

The Division of Automatic Control, headed by Professor L.
von Hamos, at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, wi II use a PDP-7 computer primari Iy to solve
problems by hybrid simulation in conjunction with analog
computers and/or rea I-time equipment. The main problems
will be development of self-adaptive and learning-control
systems and a Iso the study of biologica I control mechanisms.
Opportunity wi II a Iso be provided for other sc ientists to use
the computer.

This is a DECtape routine to transfer all of one reel (transport 1) to another (transport 2). This program occupies one
page of memory beginning at 7400. The last page of melT'.
ory is not used during the operation of the program, ho~
ever, the memory from 1 to 7436 is used to set the DECtape
reels in the proper starting attitude and is then destroyed
during dupl ication. Dupl ication will commence after wh ich
both reels will rewind. Parity error will cause the program
to halt with 0040 in the accumulator.

DECUS No. S/8-23
Title:

(Authors:

PDP-S/8 Oscilloscope Symbol Generator
Norman Weissman and John Kiraly, NASA-Ames,
Moffett Field, California

Specifications: 1. BIN with parity format or PAL BIN
2. Length - registers 200-S77 (octal)
"
~
-II
.I
-,
..).
VSCllioscope
Qlsplay
uniT
The subroutine may be called to write a string of characters,
a pair of characters, or a single character on an oscilloscope. Seventy (octal) symbols in ASCII Trimmed Code and
four special IIformat li commands are acceptable to this routi ne. The program is operated ina fash i on simi Icr to the
DE C Teletype Output Package.
Binary tape with parity format, PAL binary tape, Assembler
listing, and cards for an LRL Assembly are avai lable.

PDP-7 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS

DECUS No. 7-4
Title:

PTSCOPE, PTPEN, PTPLOT, CALIBRATE,
LISTEN

Author:

P. Bevington, Stanford University

~TSCOPE

(, aying a single parameter spectrum once on an osci lIoscope

is a FORTRAN subroutine for the PDP-7 for dis-

using the Type 34 Display. It automatically normalizes the
spectrum to a specified scale factor (which may be taken
from the console switches) and spreads the spectrum over a
specified portion of the osci lIoscope face. It scales the
spectrum point by point to avoid the necessity of providing
storage room for a norma lized spectrum. Display rate is
60 ps~c per point, limited by the Type 34 Display. Every
tenth channel is intensified by a factor of 4. This subroutine depends on the speed of the PDP-7 with Extended
Arithmetic Element to display properly.

PTPEN is a FORTRAN subroutine for the PDP-7 compatible
with PTSCOPE for identifying channel numbers in spectra
displayed with PTSCOPE, using the Type 370 Light Pen. It
displays a cross on the face of the oscilloscope which may
be positioned with the light pen. The channel number corresponding to the position of the cross is returned to the
main program. The cross may be positioned to one channel
in 1024 even with fairly coarse collimators on the light pen.
This subroutine is written in mixed FORTRAN and PDP-4/7
symbolic. Light pen flag skip and clear are 700701 and
700702, respectively.

( , lLO,T is a FORTRAN subroutine for the PDP-7 for plotting
a sing e parameter spectrum on an X-Y plotter using the
Type 34 Display. Normalization and scaling of the spectrum are identical with that of PTSCOPE. In both cases,
full-scale deflection is assumed to be 1000 (decimal). However, since the increments along the X-axis are 1/4-inte-

gral, spectra with channel numbers not exact fractions of
4000 will not span 1000 exactly. For example, spectra with
1024 channels will span 1024 full scale, and spectra with
128 channels will span 960 full scale. This subroutine is
written in mixed FORTRAN and PDP-4/7 symbolic and uti1izes EAE instructions for normalization. It assumes 0 yields
a full-scale deflection to allow the plotter to reach a null.
CALIBRATE is a FORTRAN subroutine for the PDP-7 compatible with PTPLOT for calibrating the full-scale deflection of a plotter connected to a Type 34 Display. It plots
at the rate of about 1 per second at a corner of the plot,
specified by the Teletype keyboard, assuming full-scale
deflection is 1000 (decimal).
Typing 1, 2, 3, or 4 will position the plotter at the corner
with (X,Y) = (0,0), (0,1), (1,1), or (1,O)"respectively.
Typing anything else will stop the plotting and cause a return to the main program. This subroutine is written in
mixed FORTRAN and PDP-4/7 symbolic. It assumes 0 yields
a full-scale deflection and 1777 (octal) yields no deflection.
LISTEN is a FORTRAN subroutine for the PDP-7 to permit
access to numbers from the Teletype keyboard without the
provisions of waiting if there is no input. Its main use is to
provide a branch from a program such as PTSCOPE, where
the desirability of branching is indicated by typing a number on the keyboard, and the location of the branch is indicated by the number typed. This subroutine is written in
mixed FORTRAN and PDP-4/7 symbolic. It assumes the input is from Type 33 or 35 Teletypewriter in ASCII code.

DECUS No. 7-S
Title:

KINEMATICS

Author:

P. Bevington/ Stanford University

KINEMATICS is a FORTRAN subroutine for use with nuclear
reactions to transform energies, angles, and cross sections
nonrelativisti cally between the laboratory system and the
center-of-mass system. The notation and calculations are
taken from 1960 Nuclear Data Tables, part 3, pp. 161, 162.
Given the masses of incident, target, and emitted particles
of a two-body reaction, and the incident energy, KINEMATICS will calculate the energy of the emitted particle
in both systems, the ratio of cm/lab cross sections and the
angle in one system if the angle in the other system and the
Q value are given, or it will calculate the Q value, the
ratio of cm/lab cross sections, and the emitted energy and
angle in the cm system if the emitted energy and angle in
the lab system are given. This subroutine is written entirely
in FORTRAN, with no symbolic instructions.
DECUS No. 7-6
Title:

CGC FUNCTION

Author:

A. Anderson, Stanford University

The CGC (Clebsch Gordan Coefficient) subprogram is designed to be used with FORTRAN programs running under
the Operating Time System on the PDP-7. It calculates angular momentum vector coupling coefficients with the phase
conventions of Condon and Shortley.

NEW

DECUS

MEMBERS

PDP-l DELEGATE

PDP-8 DELEGATES (continued)

I NDIVI DUAL MEMBERS (continued)

Edsel G. Crenshaw
Radio Corporation of America
Moorestown, New Jersey

John Wi II iam Fitzgerald
Stanford Medical School
Stanford, California

PDP-5 DELEGATES

Ralph Norman Haber
University of Rochester
Center for Visual Science
Rochester, New York

John H. Holland
C.A.R.D.E.
Quebec, Canada

Shinichi Kawase
Yokogawa Electric Works, Ltd.
Tokyo, Japan

Robert Scott, Jr.
S PERT Data Processing Group
Phillips Petroleum Company (A.E.D.)
Idaho Falls, Idaho

Lawrence B. Leipuner
Brookhaven Nationa I Laboratory
Cosmotron
Upton, New York

PDP-6 DELEGATES

William B. Marks
The Johns Hopkins University
Biophysics Department
Baltimore, Maryland

G. E. Bryan
The RAND Corporation
Santa Mo~ica, California
Wi II iam B. Easton
Applied Logic Corporation
Princeton, New Jersey
PDP-7 DELEGATES
Edgar A. Bates
Stromberg-Carlson Corporation
San Diego, California
H. Briscoe
F. Heart
P. Fleck
M .1. T. Lincoln Laboratory
Lex i ngton, Massac husetts
Joseph M. Fontana
University of Alabama Medical Center
Birmingham, Alabama
G. W. Gear
University of Illinois
Department of Computer Science
Urbana, III inois
Mrs. Phyl is F. Niecolai
Carnegie Institute of Technology
Nuc lear Research Center
Saxonburg, Pennsylvan ia
M. Pleeging
Technological University - Delft
Electrical Department
Delft, Netherlands
Walter R. Smith
The Boeing Company
Aero-Space Division
Seattle, Washington
PDP-8 DELEGATES
Mark Q. Barton
Brookhaven Nat i ona I Laboratory
Accelerator Department
Upton, New York
Mrs. Doris S. Ellis
The Johns Hopkins University
High Energy Physics Group
Baltimore, Maryland

Donley R. Olson
Rocketdyne, Div. of N.A.A.
Canoga Park, California
Thomas B. Sheridan
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Man-Machine Systems Group
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Ronald Tevonian
Western Electric Company
Engineering Research Center
Princeton, New Jersey

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS
JohnC. Alderman
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Cosmotron
Upton, New York
Jonathan A II en
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Murray Hill, New Jersey
Roger E. Anderson
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Livermore, California
Thomas Bottega I
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
S. M. Chase
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
Lewie C. Clapp
Computer Research Corporation
Be Imont / Massachusetts
William R. Ferrell
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Herbert I. Fleischer
Be II Telephone Laboratori es
Murray Hill, New Jersey
Herbert Freeman
New York University
Bronx, New York
M. E. Haas
University of Illinois
Urbana, III inois

Scott Herman-G iddens
University of Alabama Medical Center
Birm ingham, Alabama
Don Hi Idreth
Rocketdyne, Div. of N.A.A.
Canoga Park, California
Gottfried L. Huppertz
Max Planck Institute
Munich, West Germany
Stephen G. Hussar
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Dale E. Jordan
Computer Research Corporation
Belmont / Massachusetts
John E. Koch
Phi II ips Petroleum Company (A. E. D)
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Melvin B. Langbort
The Foxboro Company
No t ie k, Massac hu setts
Irving Nadelhaft
Carnegie Institute of Technology
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvan ia
Lee Ohringer
University of Pittsburgh Computing Ctr.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvan ia

L. J. Peek
Western Electric Company
Princeton, New.Jersey
Philip L. Rex
Beckman Instruments Inc.
Huntsvi lIe, Alabama
Mrs. Donald A. Watson
Philiips Petroleum Company (A.E.D.)
Idaho Falls, Idaho

....,ECUSCOPE
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT COMPUTER USERS SOCIETY
MAYNARD,

MASSACHUSETTS / TEL.

897-8821 / TWX 710 347-0212

SEPTEMBER 1965
Volume4 No.9

A SCOPE TEXT EDITOR FOR THE PDP-7/340
N.E. Wiseman
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
This article describes the development of an experimental text
editing program using the PDP-7 computer and 340 Display.
The program is controlled by commands issued via the light
pen and keyboard, and dynamic monitoring of the text is provided by the cathode ray display which serves as a 'window'
into a selected area of the text. The action point for an edit
function isdetermined by a conceptual pointer which may be
positioned anywhere in the text. In its present form only 8track paper tape documents in ASCII code may be handled,
the program can, in principle, be used to edit in any code
oyadding new character subroutines to the symbol generator
and making minor changes to the program steering tables.

RUBOUT

delete the line of text above the pointer position and back up the pointer.

Rearrangementsofsubstantial sectior.s of text would normally
be carried out in Bmode (possibly in conjunction with T mode).
Move Window (M) - Typing U or D causes the text to move
upordown by 20 lines (i.e., about haifa screen diameter).
Normally, the pointer is then repositioned to the top lefthand
character in the window. In this mode the program endeavors to maintain a window full of text by reading in paper
tape as necessary. If a form-feed is encountered during readin (indicating a page ending), the program switches to mode
S and stops reading.

MODES OF OPERATION
The program operates in one of seven modes, and it may be
convenient to outline the action in each mode before considering the detailed operation of the program.
Character Insert (I) - Characters typed on the teleprinter are
inserted into the text to the right of the current pointer position and the pointer is then stepped on. The character RUBOUT, however, deletes the character above the pointer and
steps the pointer back. Creation of new text and insertions,
deletions, and changes over a small area of existing text
would normally be carried out in I mode.
Block Insert (B) - This mode is used to manipulate text items
larger than a single character. An invisible buffer capable
of holding up to 192 characters is used to store a block of
text and typed commands serve to ki II the buffer, extract lines
of text into the buffer, insert the buffer contents into the text
and delete lines of text. The commands are:
K

ki II the buffer

E

extract text, from the character to the right
of the current pointer position up to (and including) the next line-feed character, into
the buffer and advance the pointer
insert the enti re buffer contents into the text
starting from the right of the current pointer
position and advance the pointer

String Search (S) - Astring of characters may be typed on the
teleprinter and a forward search made through the text for the
next Iine starting with characters match ing the string. The
search is initiated by typing colon (:). Typing (:) again will
search for the next (forward) match on the same string. If a
match is found, the window is repositioned with the matched
Iine at the top of the display and the pointer at the beginning
of this line. If no match is found, the window is not moved.
Typing RUBOUT moves the window back to the start of the
text.
Punch Text (P) - The contents of the text buffer are punched
and the program then resets to I mode with all buffers empty.
Print Text (t) - This isused to print selected parts of the text
on the teleprinter (e.g., to obtain printed records of changes
made). On entering this mode printing starts immediately,
starting at the character to the right of the current pointer position and continuing either to the end of the text or until
some light-pen action is taken (moving the pointer position,
for example).
Type into Buffer (T) - Characters typed on the teleprinter are
added into the invisible buffer. RUBOUT deletes the last
character. Aphrase to be used several times would be typed
in T mode once only and then inserted in the text as many
times as required by the use of block insert mode.
(Continued)

A Scope Text Editor Continued

SYMBOL GENERATOR

MODE SWiTCHES
Near the top of the screen, above the text window, seven
mode identifying characters are displayed. These are light
buttons. Pointingwith the lightpenatoneof these characters
wi II cause it to enlarge to double size and the program to
switch into the corresponding mode. Alternatively, the mode
can be selected by typing / (slash) on the keyboard followed
by the mode identifying character (note, however, that the
identifying character for mode is Iine-feed and nott). With
four exceptions, the program remains in a selectecfmode unti I it is changed manually by one of these two methods. The
exceptions are:

t

1. At the completion of punching in mode P the program
switches itself to mode I and resets itself.
2. During readin in mode M the program switches to
mode S and stops the reader if a form-feed character is
read.
3. If the invisible buffer is overfilled while typing in
mode T, the program switches to mode as a warning.

t

4. If the pointer is repositioned while in t'mode, printing ceases and the program switches to mode I.
Iftwo characters comprising a mode switch pair are required
as a text item, the mode switch mechanism can be defeated
by typing /  RUBOUT . Note, however, that the character / is not accepted into the text unti I the following (non-control) charac ter is typed.
TEXT POI NTER
The text pointer appears as an underline symbol on the display and may be moved around in the window by either the
I ight pen or keyboard. Pointing at a character in the text
with the pen causes the pointer to under! ine that character.
Note that invisible characters, e.g., space or carriage return, cannot be seen by the pen and thus cannot be marked
by the pointer in this way. Keyboard commands /R and /L
serve to step the pointer right and left respectively, by one
character, enabl ing any character, visible or invisible, to be
marked. Keyboard commands /D and /U move the pointer,
forward and backward respectively, to the next line-feed
character, i. e., down a Iine and up a line. Normally the
pointer cannot be moved outside the display window. However, in the special circumstances where the pointer can go
out-of-sight (reading paper tape in mode M can cause it to
occur), a 'bogus' pointer is displayed at the top right of the
screen above the window as a warning that the effect of any
edit function wi II not be seen unless the window and/or pointer
is repositioned.
TEXT STORAGE
The text is held in a circu lar buffer having a capacity of about
3000 characters. If additions are made to the text when the
buffer is full, theheadof the buffer is automatically punched
out to make room for the tail. In this way arbitrarily large
documents can be passed through the editor although access
otonymoment is limited to the most recent 3000 characters.

Characters are formed by closed display subroutines of from
one to twelve words. They are 12 units high and spaced on
a 12 unit pitch with a 24 unit line-feed and are constru,.:
from vector segments in scale 1. All characters except ~.
have approximately the same appearance on the display as
they do on the teleprinter . TAB, however I is displayed as
a double-size space to avoid the need for maintaining a dynamic column count in the program. It takes from 20 to 150
!Jsec to display a character, depending on complexity. With
typical program text about 1000, characters are displayed in
the window at an average of 80 !Jsec per character so that the
display is replenished at about 12 points/second. This gives
a very noticeable flicker to the display. It could be reduced in one of two ways:
1. A hardware symbol generator could be used. This
would reduce the character time to about 15 !Jsec and
thus a 1000 character picture wou Id be replenished at
60 points/second, well above the observable fl icker rate.
2. Characters of poorer definition could be formed by
using vectors in scale 2. This would roughly halve the
average character time enabl ing 25 points/second for a
1000 character picture.

TEXT BUFFERS
Text is stored in the buffers as a linear list of calls to the ae~
propriate character subroutines. Each call requires a t~'
word entry in the list:
'
1. Parameter word to set subroutine mode.
2.

Display jump to a character subroutine.

This is a rather inefficient use of storage space, compared
with the three characters per word obtainable from the use of
a hardware character generator , and it seems desirable to use
'clean' programming techniques in manipulating the main text
buffer in order to keep space for 3000 meaningful characters
in the buffer at all times. In this way no garbage is generated and each text item always requires exactly two list entries. On the other hand, substantial data movement is involved in making insertions and deletions to the text. As an
example, Figure 1 gives a flow diagram fora' suhroutine in
the editor wh ich inserts N words from an auxi Iiary buffer
named BUFFB into the main buffer at the pointer position.
The terminology is as follows:
BOTS

Address of numeric;:ally lowest register in main
text buffer.

TOPS

Addressofnumerically highest register in main
tex t bu Her.

BTXT

Address of bottom of text in main text buffer.

ETXT

Address of top of text in main text buffer.

PNT

Address of pointer in main text buffer.

BOTA

Address of bottom register in BUFFA.

BOTB

Address of bottom register in BUFFB.

A

Incrementing address in BUFFA or BUFFB (depending on a program switch setting).

B

Incrementing address in BUFFB or BUFFA (depending on a program switch setting).

N

Numberofwordstobe inserted from BUFFB into
text.

To insert any number, N, of words (up to an auxi liary buffer
fu i i) starting at a point M words rrom the end or the main text
buffer requires that 2 M + N words be moved. The inner
loop in ACPTN has 14 instructions and takes about 50 jJsec
per cyCle. Thus, an insertion near the beginning of a full
buffer takes about 2 x 6000 x 50 x 10- 6 = 0.6 seconds. This
is in effect the response time to a keyboard request, and to
the man initiating the request it seems quite fast enough. To
a computer with nothing else to do, as in the present case,
it is obviously of no consequence; but on a machine with a
heavy independent workload the method wou Id be entirely
unacceptable and a structured non-consecutive buffer would
have to be used.
BUFFC is used for input buffering and is in fact the invisible
buffer mentioned earlier in connection with modes Band T.
When the main text buffer overflows, the head is transferred
to BUFFP for punch ing. Under normal circumstances editing
can then proceed independently; but if continued overflow
occurs so that BUFFPgetsfull, the program becomes dead until the punch has caught up. Thus the user is prevented from
overfilling BUFFP by temporarily halting input to meet the
limitations of the punch.

PICTURE
Three display tables make up the picture:
1. A row of Iight buttons used for mode selection and
indication.
2. Awindowful of text.'
3. A pointer positioned somewhere in the text.
When no other action is called for, the program simply sequences these three tables over and over.
Thelightbuttontableissimply a string of special calls to the
symbol generator. The calls are special in that the scale,
light-pen status, and absolute position are set specifically
for each character. When the program is in a particu lar mode,
the identifying button for that mode is displayed in scale 2
and disabled (i .e~, made invisible to the light pen), while
the other buttons are displayed in scale 1 and enabled. Thus
apen 'see' on a particular button is serviced only once even
though the button table may be displayed many times during
the pointing action.
The text buffers are arranged so that a minimum of processing
is required to select and display windowful of text. The
beam is simply positioned at the top left corner of the winlOW, and the display is started at some position STXT in the
.ain text buffer. When the beam runs off the bottom of the
screen, an edge violation occurs wh ich stops the display and
interrupts the program. Only STXT must be computed.

a light-pen 'see' occurs in the text, the display stops and the
program reads the beam coordinates, computes the new pointer
position PNT, and updates the text pointer table. This is
quite straightforward. Moving the pointer by keyboard commands, however, is rather more involved. The beam position
corresponding with a new PNT depends on the number of linefeeds, carriage-returns, tabs, and characters of text between
some known beam position (I ike STXT or an old PNT) and the
new PNT! and is not directly avai lable to the program. The
method used in the program to find the beam position is to insert a special stopcode into the display table at the new PNT
position and update the pointer table only when the display
reaches this position and the beam is cOJrectly positioned.
The stopcode is then removed and the display tables operated
as usual.
CONCLUSION
The program is'intended to be an experiment in display programming rather than one in text editing. Real-time interactions occur between the program and the user, and we shou Id
ask whether those interactions are appropriate to scope text
editing. The user has two basic methods for communicating
with the program; through keyboard and light-pen commands.
Selecting a place ir. the text where an edit function is required 'feels' Iike a light-pen action, whi Ie joining characters to form a text item is surely best done through the keyboard. In fact pointing with the Iight pen is not a very precise action and it is not easy to hit exactly the desired character
in the text. For th i s reason both keyboard and pen contro I of
the pointer are provided. Mode selection is another action
wh i ch is not clearly better done one way or the other. Rather
it depends on whether the user already has the pen in his hand
or is typing something on the keyboard. The program thus
accepts mode changes through either pen or keyboard actions.
Itmaybea mistake thatthe program does not duplicate more
controls in this way, possibly all except the fundamental
typewriter actions (I and T modes).
An earlier version of the Editor incorporated a very flexible
method for scanning through the text by causing it to drift up
ordqwn through thewindow. The method was abandoned because it seemed psychologically unattractive; but it may be
worth comment, if only as a warning to future scope editor
designers. On entering move mode the program would attempt
to reposition the text so that the Iine containing the pointer
was in the middle of the window. This repositioning was,repeated every second so that by holding the pointer M lines
above or below center with the pen, the text would jump M
lines per second down orup through the window. In this mode
the pen served as a sort of speed control permitting the rate
of drift to be varied from 0 to ±20 lines per second. Unfortunately it seemed extremely difficu It to read and understand the text when it was being moved continuously in this
way; therefore the method was scrapped in favor of the single
shift of ± 20 lines by keyboard selection.

a

An under! ine symbol is displayed to identify the character in
the main text buffer, addressed by the text pointer PNT. When

DECUSCOPE is published monthly for Digital Equipment.
Computer Users Society (DECUS) .
Material for publication should be sent to: Mrs. Angela

J. Cossette, DECUS, Maynard, Massachusetts 01754.
Publ ications Chairman: Joseph Lundy, Inforonics, Inc.
Circulation: 1,400 copies per month

CANDIDATES FOR DECUS OFFICE 1966-1968
Below are short biographies of the candidates for DECUS
office. Ballots have been sent to all DECUS Delegates.
Results of the election will be announced in November.
FOR PRESIDENT
John B. Goodenough
Mr. Goodenough receives his B.A. from Harvard University
in Physics in 1961 and an M.A. from Harvard in 1962.
He has been.~mployed by Decision Sciences Laboratory at
Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts since June 1962 as
mathematician and systems analyst and has submitted several
routines to the PDP-1 DECUS library.
His publications include:

David R. Brown, Guest Speaker
at Decus Fall Symposium
Mr. David R. Brown, Manager of the Computer Techniques
Laboratory of Stanford Research Institute, will be the featured
speaker at the DECUS Fall Symposium tobe heldat Tresidder
Union Hall, Stanford University on November 29. The topic
of Mr. Brown's talk is "Computers of the Future--their Logical Design and Implementation. II
Mr. Brown is concerned with research in logical design and
machine organization, the development of magnetic-logic
techniques, and the design and fabrication of digital equipment at SRI. He received a B. S. degree in Electrical Engineeringfrom the University of Washington in 1944 and an
M. S. degree in Electrical Engineering from M.1. T. in 1957.
Mr. Brown was a member of the Appl ied Physics Laboratory
of the University of Washington and has worked on the design
of the Whirlwind I Computer at the Servomechanisms Laboratory, M .1. T. He was a lecturer in Electrical Engineering
at the University of California, where he contibuted to the
design of the CALDIC (California Digital Computer). In
1951 he returned to M .1. T .to become leader of the Magnetic Materials Group of Lincoln Laboratory, where he was
responsible for the development of the ferrite memory core.
At Lincoln Laboratory he subsequently became leaderof the
Advanced Development Group, which designed and built
the TX-O and TX-2 Computers; he was also the head of the
SAGE System Office. In 1958 he joined the Mitre Corporation as head of the SAGE System Office. Also at Mitre,
he served as the first head of the Component Department, as
a member of the ONR Pacific Command Study Group (19591960), as head of the Theater Operations Department, and
as Associate Technical Director. In the latter capac ity, he
was responsible for computer and display development I human
fa c tor s, mathematical techniques, programming research,
and operation of Mitre's data-processing facilities.
Mr. Brown is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the IEEE Electronic Computers Committee,
and American Standards Association Sectional Committee
X-6 (Computers and Related Equipment). He served as Program Chairman of the 1964 Fall Joint Computer Conference,
and is a member of the AFIPS Technical Program Committee.

1. II A Li ghtpen-Controll ed Program for On line Data
Analysis," Communications of the ACM, February,
1965.
2. With H . Rubenstein, II Statistical Correlates of Synonymy, II to appear in Communications of the ACM,
late 1965.
He is presently a member of the association for Computing
Machinery.
FOR RECORDING SECRETARY
Eli Glazer
Mr. Glazer received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering at
City College of New York in 1957 and a M.S. in Electri4"
Engineering at Columbus University in 1964.
'
He was employed at ITT Federal Laboratories from 1957-1961
where his work involved ECM and peripheral equ ipment. He
served in the Signal Corps during 1958-1960 as an Instructor
in the Army Ordnance School. He is presently employed at
Brookhaven National Laboratories in the Information Processing and High Energy Physics Group. Mr. Glazer is a member of IEEE.
Richard G. Mills
Mr. Mills received his B. S. in both Electrical Engineering
and Business and Engineering Administration at M.I. T. in
1954. He received the degree of M.S. in Industrial Management from M.I. T. in 1960. In both his undergraduate and
graduate studies, Mr. Mills pursued interests related to digital computer appl ications, operations research, and quantitative management.
Except for a brief period as a SAC pilot, Mr. Mills' work
experience has largely centered around computers. While
with the General Electric Company, he worked with mathematical programming applications in production control and
scheduling systems. As a part of his graduate work he did
research in computer appl ications and system programming
at the M .1. T. Computation Center.

wi

For three years prior to joining Project MAC, Mr. Mills
vice-president of a small computer appl ications consulting
firm in the Boston area. In this association he was involved
in advanced computer programming.
Mr. Mills is Assistant Director of Project MAC.

FOR MEETINGS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
Donald A. Molony
At Rutgers University Professor Molony received his B. S. in
'Aechanical Engineering in 1944, a B. S. in Electrical Engi~ering in 1947, and a M.S. in 1949. He attended the
Technical University, Austria from 1961-1962 on a National
Science Foundation Fellowship.
He has been empioyed as d fuii-time member of the facuity
at Rutgers University (except for mil itary service and while
studying abroad) since 1944. Principal areas of activity include electronics, high~frequency engineering, sol id state
and transistor electroniC~i computers and computer techniques on both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He
has supervised graduate theses in many areas and has been
associated with many projects in such areas as: modulation
s y s t ems, communications systems, microwave electronics,
and computer techniques. He has also been responsible for
the Computer Laboratory of the Department of Electrical
Engineering since its origin.
His publ ications include:
1. IIMoment Detection and Coding, II Communication
and Electronics, July, 1957.
2. "Moment Detection and Coding, II Electrical Engineering, June, 1957.
3. IIElectronically Tunable Selective Ampl ifier for Format Synthesis, II Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America, July, 1956.
4. IIDetection of Information by Moments," LR.E.
Convention Record, March, 1953.
--5. More than 50 progress and techn ical reports submitted to various government agencies.

PROGRAMMING NOTES
KRIEGSPIEL CHESS - A DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM
Michael S. Wolfberg,
Moore School of Electrical Engineering,
University of Pennsylvania
Kriegspiel Chess isa variation of the classical game of chess,
where the two players sit back to back. Each player has his
own chessboard on which he has only his own chessmen. He
does not know positively where hisopponent's men are positioned. A third person, the arbiter, looks over the players '
shoulders and suppl ies enough information to the players so
that they can playa legal game of chess. The arbiter gives
a bit more information beyond whether the players are making legal moves, but not very much. When White attempts
" move, the arbiter announces either IIWhite moved ll or
~.10,1I dependingonwhetherthe move is legal, and the same
for Black. Once a player makes a move which the arbiter
has recognized as legal, the player may not retract it.
The arbiter also announces when one of the players has made
a capture, which is often a surprise to both players. The

player who made the capture does not know what piece he
captured, and the player whose piece was captured does not
know what piece did the capturing. The arbiter announces
the square on the board where the capture was made. When
one of the players moves, putting his opponent's king into
check, the arbiter announces how the checking is accompi ished. The only information the arbiter discloses is checking one or two of the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Along a rank (row)
Along a file (column)
Along the king's short diagonal
Along the king's long diagonal
By a knight

To understand the meaning of 3. and 4., note that each
square on the chessboard is a member of two diagonals. The
Iengths of these are never the same, and there is a Short and
a Long diagonal for every square. The corner squares have
diagonals of lengths 0 and 8.
In order to give a I ittle more information to players/ the
arbiter announces one more indication of the position. \Vhen
it is White's turn to move, the arbiter announces the number
of pawn moves which White may legally make which will
capture a Black piece. The arbiter does this by announcing
that White has x tries, and the same for Black. This game
is otherwise played I ike classical chess until a checkmate is
reached. To add to the confusion, the arbiter conceals the
fact that there isa checkmate or stalemate, since the player
to move can deduce this after trying all possible moves.
PDP-5--Teleregister Kriegspiel - For the purposes of demonstration, the PDP-5 has bee n programmed to arbitrate a
Kriegspiel Chess game played by two players, each at a
Teleregister display console. The consoles are separated so
that neither player may see the other's display screen. A
Teleprinter in a corner of the room records all the moves being made by both players so that when the game is over, it
can be replayed, often the most enjoyable phase of Kriegspiel.
The players fi nd out what moves they missed, what they cou Ia
have done II if they had only known. Ii
When the game begins, the initial board positions are displayed on the consoles, along with the message: IIWH ITE
BEGINS.II The player White then keys in his move in Descriptive Chess Notation e.g., P5-K4 or N2-KB3. If the
move is legal, a message is sent to both consoles, and White's
board is updated according to his move. The game continues
until the players deduce a checkmate or stalemate, or decide
the game is a draw. In order to initial ize a new game, both
players must key in: IIEND. II
During the course ofa game if a player wants to mark a square
on his board not occupied by one of his own men, he may
key in II [II followed by the name of the square, immediately
followed bythesingle characterformarking. Ifno character
is given, any marking character which was at the square is
removed.
The notation for castling is: 0-0 for king side and
for queen side (note--the letter 110" is used).

0-0-0

In pawn promotion, the notation is, for example, P8-KR8(QL
where the single character in parentheses is either Q r R, Bf
or N. If nothing follows the move, II (Q)II is assumed.

340 DISPLAY PROGRAMMING: MODIFICATION OF THE
SYMBOLIC ASSEMBLER PERMANENT SYMBOL TABLE
Sanford Adler
System Sciences Laboratory, New York University

the Editor Program which would convert characters typed on
the TT into the character generator code and assemble them
three per word in a display table. With such a subroutine,
the text typed by the user would appear on the display in exactly the same way as it was typed.
6. Vector and Vector Continue Mode Words

The following mnemonics have been developed for use on a
PDP-7 Computer equipped with the following display hardware:
340 Display (light pen, character generator, subroutine
option)
343 Slave Display (light pen)
1. To specify the Mode of the next word in the display
table
Mode

Symbol

Octal Code

Parameter
Point
Slave
Character
Vector
Vector Continue
Increment
Subroutine

PAR
PT
SLV
CHR
VCT
VCTC
INCR
SUBR

000000
020000
040000
060000
100000
120000
140000
160000

2. Parameter Mode Words
Scale Settings

Intensity Settings

SO
Sl
S2
S3

100
120
140
160

INO
INl
IN2
IN3
IN4
IN5
IN6
IN7

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

STOP

STP

3000

Light Pen On
Light Pen Off

LPON
LPOFF

14000
10000

3. Point Iv10de Words
Vertical Word
Horizontal Word
Intensify Point

V
H
IP

200000
000000
2000

4. Slave Iv10de Words
Slave 1 On
Slave 1 Off
Light Pen 1 On

S10N
S10FF
LP10N

5000
4000
2000

Slave 2 On
Slave 2 Off
Light Pen 2 On

S20N
S20FF
LP20N

500
400
200

Escape*
Intensify*

ESCP
INSFY

400000
200000

-**(See notes at the end of this article.)
7. Increment Mode Words
Move First Point Right
Left
Up
Down
Up & Left
Up & Right
Down & Left
Down & Right

P1R
P1L
Pl U
P1D
P1UL
P1UR
Pl DL
Pl DR

100000
140000
020000
030000
1"60000
120000
170000
130000

Move Second Poi nt Right
Left
Up
Down
Up & Left
Up & Right
Down & Left
Down &Right

P2R
P2L
P2U
P2D
P2UL
P2UR
P2DL
P2DR

4000
6000
1000
1400
7000
5000
7100
5"100

Iv10ve Th i rd Po int Right
P3R
Left
P3L
P3U
Up
Down
P3D
Up & Left
P3UL
Up & Right
P3UR
Down & Left P3DL
Down & Right. P3DR

200
300
040
060
340
240
360
260

Fourth Point Right
Left
Up
Down
Up & Left
Up & Right
Down & Left
Down &Right

10
14
02
03
16
12
17
13

/W:Jve

Escape*
Intensify*

P4R
P4L
P4U"
P4D
P4UL
P4UR
P4DL
P4DR
ESCP
INSFY

400000
200000

DDS
DJP
DJS

200000
400000
600000

8. Subroutine Mode Words
Display Deposit Save Register
Display Jump
Display Jump and Save

The octal codes can be used di rectly by the programmer to fO~i
in octal the spec i fi c word format he requ ires. Th i s can ~
done without adding the mnemonics to the Assembler Perma-"
nent Symbol Table.

5. Character Mode Words
We are presently considering the addition of a subroutine to

*The codes are the same for vector, vector conttnue, and

increment modes. Note that intensification in point mode
has a di fferent code.
**The following addition to this table was suggested by a DEC
¥'ogrammer. Itwould be inserted in the section indicated by
two asteri sks .
dy1
dy2
dy4
dy8
dy16
dy32
dy64

400
1000
2000
4000
= 10000
= 20000
= 40000

my
mx

= 100000

DECUS NO. 83
Title:

340 Assembly Language and 340-DDT

Author:

John B. Goodenough, ESD, Hanscom Field

This program resembles ordinary DDT in that it allows the
bit patterns of the 340 Scope instructions to be inspected
and changed, on-line, in a symbolic language. The symbols used are identical to the symbols used when compiling
.
.
programs for the scope.
In addition registers may be inspected and changed using
ordinary machine language.

200

The action operator tape, which defines the 340 Assembly
Language, can be compiled only with the 2-core DECAL of
November 1964 (or with versions of DECAL derived from the
Skeletal DECAL of November 1964). After compilation,
DECAL can be punched off to obtain a permanent copy of
DECAL with the 340 definitions.

DECUS PROGRAM LIBRARY

Following the action operators is a test program which can
be compiled and loaded to check that the compileris using
the definitions correctly. The pattern produced by the test
program is described in the 340 DDT write-up.

PDP-1 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DECUS NO. 7A
Title:

Modified Expensive Typewriter (Macro)

Authors:

Sheldon B. Michaels, John L. Ramsey, AFCRL

This program is intended to make both off-line and on-line
e,d,1ting of symbolic tapes more rapid and flexible than with
CJular ll (MIT -2) Expensive Typewriter. Toaccomplish this,
a number of control characters have been added or modified.
1. Six new control characters have been added to the Expensive Typewriter (henceforth abbreviated E. T.). All the
old features remain.
a. The (z) control character allows an off-line prepared symbolic correction tape to be read in, thus reducing on-line time requirements to an absolute minimum.
b. The (-) {overstrike} control character enables the
user to specify desired lines by symbols rather than by
line numbers. This makes possible the preparation of
the off-line correction tape without the necessity of
counting lines.
c. The ( ( ) control character enables the user to find
all lines of text which contain user-specified character
sequence.
d. The (b) and (h) control characters allow specification of the number of registers occupied by the text
buffer. This program can use two cores if desired, allowing for storage of over 20,000 characters.

l
IS

e. The (u) control characters allow the buffer to be
restored after it has been ki lied.
To return from text mode to control mode, SENSE switch
no longer needed.

3. Two changes have been made in the internal logic.
4. The (p) control character has been modified to allow the
user to punch desired sections of his text.

NOTE: The 340 DDT program only resembles DDT;
it is not a modification of regular DDT.

DECUS NO. 84
Title:

M .1. T. Floating Point Arithmetic Package

Authors:

B. Gosper, T. Eggers

The Floating Package is a group of arithmetic subroutines in
which numbers are represented in the form f x 2e • f is a lis
complement 18-bit fraction with the binary point -between
bits 0 and 1. e is a lis complement 18-bit integer exponent
of 2. The la;gest magni tude numbers that can be represented are V'J 1039 ,000.
A number is normalized when 1/2 ~ If I < 1. All the floating point routines[ except the two floating unnormalized
adds, return a normalized answer. The fraction appears in
the AC, the exponent in the 10. Routines include:
Floating Add - JDA FAD
Floating Multiply - JDA FMP
Floating Divide - JDA FDV
Floating Square Root - JDA FSQ
Floating Log, base 2 - JDA LOG
Floatin~ Reciprocal - JDA RCP

Floating Input - JDA FIP
Floating Output - JDA FOP
Floating Unnormalized Add - JDA FUA
Floating Unnormalized Add and Round - JDA FUR
Floating Exponentiation - JDA F2X

DEC US NO. 85

DECUS NO. 7-8

Title:

LISP for the PDP-1

Title:

FPTSCOPE, FPTPEN, and FPTPLOT

Authors:

L. Peter Deutsch and Edmund C. Berkeley

Author:

Philip Bevington, Stanford University

LISP (for LISt Processing) is a language desi gned primarily
for processing data consisting. of lists of symbols. It has
been used for symbolic calculations in differential and integral calculus, electrical circuit theory, mathematical
logic, game playing, and other fields of intelligent handling of symbols.
LISP for the PDP-1 uses, from the basic functions, about
1500 registers, and for working storage from about 500 to
14000 registers (the latter in a four-core PDP-1) as may be
chosen. It is flexible, permits much investigation, and the
correction of preliminary expressions.

FPTSCOPE, FPTPEN, and FPTPLOT are three FORTRAN s#'
routines for the PDP-7 which provide oscilloscope displ~_
and X-Y plots of single parameter spectra using the Type 34
Display. These subroutines are similar to PTSCOPE, PTPE N,
and PTPLOT, (rev. 8/65) but display spectra stored in floating point mode.

COMPUTER OPTIONS

PDP-5 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DECUS NO. 5-24
Title:

Vector Input/Edit

Authors: R. Rubinoff, O. Goelman, and J. Flomenhoft,
f'.Aoore School of Electrical Engineering, University
of Pennsylvania.
This program accepts Teletype and effects editing options by
implementing a man-machine dialogue. Development of the
program was supported, in part, by the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research and the Army Research Office.
DECUS NO. 5-25
Title:

A Pseudo Random Number Generator for the PDP-5
Computer

Author:

P. T. Brady, New York University

The random number generator subroutine, when called repeatedly, will return a sequence of 12-bit numbers which, though
detelministic, appears to be drawn from a random sequence
uniform over the interval 00008 to 77778- Successive numbers
wi II be found to be statistically uncorrelated. The sequence
will not repeat itself until it has been called over 4 billion
times.

GRAFACON

PDP-7 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS

The GRAFACON Modell 01 0 is a low-cost advanced graphical input system produced by Data Equipment Company, DivisionofBBNCorporation, Santa Ana, California. The first
all-digital, solid-state system of its kind for general purpose
digital computers, the f'.Aodel 1010 is based upon the Rand
Tablet; it is expected to permit greater freedom of expression
in direct man-machine communication than heretofore possible.

DECUS NO. 7-7

The System

Title:

INPUT NO 180, INFLT ND 180, INPUT VICTOREEN, and INFLT VICTOREEN

Author:

Philip Bevington, Stanford University

The GRAFACON f'.Aodel1 01 0 consists of a "writing surface II ,
an "electronic pen II , and associated control electronics. The
writing surface is actually a unique printed-circuit scree!] .
It has a 10 x 10-inch area, and will provide 100 lines,inch resolution in both the x and y axes. The electronic ~l
picks up pulses from the screen, amplifies them, and sends
them to the electronics package for translation into computer
language. Transmission ofthese data to the computer is then
accomp\ ished through speci al interface circuitry.

The program tape is prefixed with a text for a relocatable
loader, used at NYU, but this may be bypassed and the binary section will then read directly into 3000-3077.

These are four FORTRAN subroutines for the PDP-7 which read
punched paper tapes of data from nuclear data multichannel
pu Ise-he i gh t ana Iyzers and store them in fi xed or float i ng
point arrays. These subroutines are in mixed FORTRAN and
PDP-4;7 symbolic languages and utilize EAE instructions.

Description of the system is best illustrated by reference to the
general block diagram. Information flow paths are indicated
by the heavier lines. The clock sequencer furnishes a time
sequence of 20 pu Ises to the blocking osci Ilators, during which
~"ey give coincident positive and negative pu Ises ,on two lines
,
Jched to the tablet.
2n

is picking up bits from the tablet. During the last 40 fJsec
the tablet is at its quiescent level, and the quiescent level
of the pen is strobed into the ALe toggle. In a perfectly
balanced system, the ALC toggle alternates between 1 and 0
with each major cycle.
Asan x, y value is being converted to binary and shifted into
one end of the shift register, the old binary value is being
shifted out the other end, serially reconverted to Gray and
_______ ..1 .. _ .. L._ : ____ : __
\..V"IfJUII::U IV 1111::

III\"VIIIIII~

~

__ •••.

\,,;IIUY

_J..~

VUIUC,

~_~

1..: .. _ .. _ ..

VIIC UII

UI

U

:~~

lillie.

Ie
II

the old Gray number and incoming gray number differ in more
thanonebitineither x or y, a "va lidity " toggle is set to indicate an error, that the pen has moved more than one line
during the 220-fJsec interval.
The system finds application in a wide range of fields now
uti! izing digital computers extensively as a meansof research,
production data processing, and graphiCal data reduction'.
Programming Note
By: Russ Winslow, DEC
The pu Ises are encoded by the tables as serial x, y Gray-code
position information which is sensed by the high-in'put im-,
pedance, pen-like stylus from the epoxy-coated tablet surface. This information is strobed, converted from Gray to
binary code, assembled in a shift register, and gated in parallel to an interface register.
The Gray code was selected so that only one bit wou Id change
valuewith each wire position, giving a complete and unamb"iguous determination of the stylusposition. Further, Gray
( " Je facilitates serial conversion to binary.
The printed-circuit, all-digital tablet, complete with printedcircuit encoding, is a new concept, and is the heart of the
graphic input system. The basic building material is O.S-milthick Mylarsheet, clad on both sides with 1/2 ounce copper
(approximately 0.6 mils thick) and etched. The result is a
printed circuit on each side of the ,Mylar, each side in proper
registration with the other.
The top circuit contains the x position lines and y encoder
sections, while the bottom circuit has the y position lines
and x encoder sections. Position lines are connected at the
endstowide, code-coupling buses; these buses are as wide as
possible in order to obtain the maximum area, since 'the encoding method depends on capacitive coupling from the encoder sections through the Mylar to these buses. The position
lines are alternately connected to wide buseson opposite ends,
giving symmetry to the tabJet and minimizing the effect of
reg istrat ion errors.
The stylus placed anywhere on the tablet wi II pick up a time
sequence of pulses, indicating the x, y position. This detected pulse pattern will repeat itself every major cycle as
long as the stylus is held in this position. As the stylus is
moved, a different pulse pattern is sensed, indicating a new
position. Since there are 1024 x position Iines and 1024 Y
osition lines, 20 bits are required to define a point.
(

',_13 final stages of the amplification and the strobing circuit
are dc-coupled, and the system is thus vulnerable to shift in
the dc signal level. An automatic level control (ALC) circuit has been provided to ensure maximum recognizabil ity of
signals. During the first 180l-lsec of a major cycle, the stylus

When writing programs intended to operate on both the
PDP-S and 8, the following routine will prove useful in allowing the program to determine in which machine it is
running.
isz 0
skp
isz 0
/PDP-8
/PDP-S

NEWS

ITEMS

Foxboro Company Purchases Six PDPs
For Digital Process Control Systems
The Foxboro Company's Digital Systems Division of Natick,
Mass., has purchased six central processors and peripheral
equipment for use in Foxboro's Model 97000 Digital Industrial
Process Control Systems.
"
The processors, designed and bui It by Digital to specHications
drawn by Foxboro, are functionally equivalent to Digital's
general-purpose PDP computers but with a more extensive
input/output system built by Foxboro to meet specific needs
of real-time industrial process control.
They are being used in systems bui It by Foxbo~o for the Board
of Public Utilities in Kansas City, Kans., to log data; the
Central Electric Power Cooperative of Conway, S.C., to
log data; Associated Electric Cooperative of Thomas Hi II,
Mo., to log data and calculate results and efficiency; Chase
Brass & Copper Company of fv\ontpel ier, Ind., to perform inventory control and other business applications in addition to
casting control; and Allegheny Power System's Fort Martin
Station in Fairmont, W.V., to log data and calculate results
and efficiency.
Earl i er contro I systems bu i It by Foxboro arou nd processors su pplied by Digital are at United States Steel Company's Homestead Mi II, controll ing a blast furnace; at National Biscuit
Company's Chicago bakery, controlling batch processing; at
Dow Chemical Company, Midland,Mich., direct digital
control installation; at the mi 1\ of Wheel ing Steel Corporation

in Wheeling, W.V., controlling a basic oxygen process; at
Esso Research Company, another direct digital control installation control Iing a refinery; at Penn-Dixie Cement Company's Petoskey, Mich., installation monitoring a cement
ki In; and at a Puerto Rico Power Resources Authority's generating station, controlling two 100-megawatt steam turbine
units.
Bermuda Press Installs Island's First Computer
The first computer for commercial use in Bermuda has been
installed at the Bermuda Press Limited of Hamilton, which
publishes the island's two daily newspapers and operates a
job printing shop.
aermuda Press will use the PDP-8 Typesetting System for a
variety of jobs in addition to its basic composing room assignment. Initial plans call for the system to set all the
straight text matter in the newspapers, both news and classified advertisements. In the typesetting job, the computer

accepts tapes punched by noncounting perforators and generates a clean tape to drive automatic linecasting machines.
The shop uses three Iinecasters regularly and has a fourth
standing by. News holes in the newspapers, the Royal Gazette and Mid-Ocean Daily News, range from 50 to 1~'
columns. The Gazette, with a weekday circulation".
8,700, is published seven mornings a week. The News,
published Monday through Thursday and Saturday afternoons, has a Saturday circulation of 10,000. The program
to perform the typesetting function is part of the system
package supplied by DEC. The program facilitates the use
by the operator of type faces and styles for needs in the
news, editorial, and advertising pages.
Additional programs being developed by Bermuda Press
would permit the computer to call in from auxiliary storage
devices programs to perform the other data processing jobs
being considered for the computer. Coding characters at
the start of each raw tape will call in whatever program is
needed to set the contents of the tape.

NEW DECUS MEMBERS
Leonard P. Goodstein
Danish Atomic Energy Commission
Roskilde, Denmark

H. J. Christensen
A. E. K. Research Establishment
Riso, Denmark

Henry P. Ki Iroy
Potter Instrument Company, Inc.
Plainview, New York

William S. Cook
Applied Data Research, Inc.
Princeton, New Jersey

Kai Smith
AGA AKTIEBOLAG
Lidingo Sweden

Laurice Fleck
M .1. T. Lincoln Laboratory
Lex i ngton, Massac husetts

Mr. Robert Berger
wi II replace Mr. J. Meltzer
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.
New York, New York

Robert Vonderohe
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, Illinois

Mary Flesher
M. I. T. Li nco In Laboratory
Lexington, Massachusetts

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

PDP-7 DELEGATES

Lawrence Amiot
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, Illinois

John W. Frazier
Aerospace Medical Research Labs.
Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio

Martin L. Cramer
Electronic Associates Inc.
Princeton, New Jersey

James H. Bennett
Applied Logic Corporation
Princeton, New J~rsey

Dona Id Hodges
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, Illinois

Joel C. Berlinghieri
The University of Rochester
Rochester, New York

PDP-l DELEGATES
Chari es J. Harmon
Aerospace Medica I Research Laboratory
Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
Adrian C. Mellissinos
The University of Rochester
Rochester, New York

PDP-5 DELEGATE

M. D. Woolsey
The University of Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee

L. R. Bowyer
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.
Holmdel, New Jersey

PDP-8 DELEGATES

Daniel A. Brody
The University of Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee

Bruce Biavati
Columbia University
New York, New York

Thomas V. Brown
New York University
Bronx, New York

Gary B. Guardineer
Brookhaven National Laboratories
Upton, New York
Howard C. Johnson
Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.
Holmdel, New Jersey
Robert J. Kolker
M • I . T. Li nco In Laboratory
Lex i ngton, Massac husetts
David B. Loveman III
Applied Logic Corporation
Princeton, New Jersey
K. C. Turberfield
A. E. R. E. Harwell
Berkshire, England

~ECUSCOPE
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT COMPUTER USERS SOCIETY
MAYNARD,

MASSACHUSETTS / TEL

897-8821 / TWX 710. 347-0212

OCTOBER 1965
Vol. 4 No. 10

DECUS FALL SYMPOSIUM
Tresidder Union Ha II, Stanford University
November 29, 1965

AGENDA
8:30-9:30

Registration and Coffee

9:35

Opening of Meeting
William A. Fahle, DECUS President
John T. Gilmore, Jr., DECUSMeetingsChairman

9:45

We Icome Address
Phi lip Bevington, Professor, Stanford University

10:00

Computers of the Future - Their Logical Design
and Implementation
David R. Brown, Guest Speaker

10:45

SESSION A- EXPERIMENTS,APPLICATIONS
1: 15

Spiral Reader Control and Data Acquisition
with the PDP-4
Jon D. Stedman, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory {Berke ley}

1:45

PARAMET - A program for the Visual Investigation of Parametric Equations
Kenneth R. Bertram, Lawrence Radiati on Laboratory (Livermore)

2: 15

Coffee

2:30

On-Line Reduction of Nuclear Physics Data
with the PDP-7
Phi lip Bevington, Stanford University

3:00

Application of the LI NC
Alan Boneau, Duke University

Morning Session A or B

SESSION A- EXPERIMENTS, APPLICATIONS
10:45

The PDP-1 Program GRASP
Ronald Gocht, Stuart Sharpe I United Aircraft
Research Laboratories

11: 15

Direct Digital Control to High Energy Particle
Accelerators
Donald R. Machen, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory {Berkeley}

11:45

Current Trends in Hybrid Computer Oriented
Software
Stephen F. Lundstrom, Consu Itant to App Ii ed
Dynamics Inc.

SESSION B-GENERAL AND UTILITY
1: 15

1:45

2: 15
2:30

A Data Acquisition System for Submarine
Weapons System Evaluation Utilizing a PDP-8
Robert H. Bowerman, U.S. Naval Underwater
Ordnance Station

3:00

Plant Wide Computer Capabi lity (PDP-5)
James Mi Iler, Dow Badische

3:30-5:00

Tours
Stanford Computation Center - PDP-1 TimeSharing
Stanford SCANS System and Medical Center PDP-7, -8, and L1NC
SLAC - Stanford linear Accelerator Center

4:30

DECUS Delegates Meeting

5:30

Cocktai Is and Dinner at Ricky1s Hyatt House,
Palo Alto

S E S S ION B - G ENE RA LAN D UTI L I TY
10:45

A. L.I.C.S. - Assembly Language
Joseph A. Rodn i te, Informati on Contro I Systems

11: 15

Some New Developments in the DECAL Compiler
Richard McQui lIin, Inforonics Inc.

, 1 :45

Message Switcbing System Using the PDP-5
Sypko Andreae, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (Berke ley)

12: 15-1 :00

Lunch

1: 15

Afternoon Session A or B

----

The Learning Research and Development Center1s Computer Assisted Laboratory
Ronald G. Ragsdale, University of Pittsburgh
Time-Sharing the PDP-6
Thomas N. Hastings, Digital EquipmentCorporation
Coffee

COMPUTERS OF THE FUTURE - THEIR LOGICAL
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

CURRENT TRENDS IN HYBRID COMPUTER
ORIENTED SOFTWARE

Davi dR. Brown
Stanford Research Institute
Menlo Park, California

Stephen F. Lundstrom
Consultant to Applied Dynamics Inc.
Ann Arbor, Mi ch i gan

Advances in microelectronics call for new methods of logical
desi gn • These advances, such as integrated sem i conduc tor
circuits, permit fabrication of complex networks in a single
process where many circuit elements and their interconnections are made simultaneously duri.ng steps of the process.
Lower cost and higher reliability will result(hence more sophisti cated systems}, but the bui Iding blocks wi II no longer
be the convenient gate or flip-flop. Circuit speed wi II also
improve, tending to decentralize control and to merge control, storage, and logic. Consequently, the logica I desi gn
wi II have to be better coordinated with the manufacturing
process and the desi gn of system software.

THE PDP-1 PROGRAM GRASP
R. Gocht, S. Sharpe
United Aircraft Research Laboratories
East Hartford, Connecticut
GRASP is a general purpose PDP-1 digital computer program.
It uses the Digital Equipment Corporation IS Type 340 Scope
Display to provide effective and direct graphical communication between a problem in the computer and the operator.
This GRaphics Assisted Simulation Program gives the "simulatio~user even more ';-ersati Ie problem control than would
an analog computer. The generality of GRASP allows it to
accommodate many different types of problems with unique
input-output control requirements. All solutions are displayed in graphical form on the scope. Variation of problem parameters and input data, including arbitrary function generation, is accomplished under light pen control.
A short examp Ie is used to ill ustrate the genera I method of
GRASP operation.

DIRECT DIGITAL CONTROL TO HIGH ENERGY
PARTICLE ACCE LERA TORS
Dona Id R. Machen
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, California
The Bevatron, at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in
Berkeley, exhibits many of the unmistakable characteristics
of a multivariable process. Automatic control of machine
parameters is of major interest to not only the operating
management but experimental physics groups as well.
In order to fu lIy explore the possibilities of stored program
digital computer control in the accelerator field, a PDP-5
computer, together with the necessary interface, te lemetry
channels, and remote sense logic, is being installed at the
Bevatron.
Closed-loop automatic control of beam position and intensity between the linear accelerator and the main accelerating ring wi II be accomplished through the PDP-5.

Many interpreters and compi lers have been developed recently to assist the engineer in the complex job of programming a hybrid computer problem. After a short discussion of
the hardware involved in hybrid computers and some of the
unique problems therein; discussion centers on the functions
of some of the more outstanding representatives of the current software developments.
Some ofthe software developments discussed include SPOUSE,
MAID, TAOIST, AND FOCHUS. The interpreter portion of
SPOUSE (Stored Program OUtput Setup Equipment) is designed to assist the engineer in the setup and check-out of
the ana log subsystem. The MAID software package is used
by engineers and technicians in the automatic diagnostic
check-out of the analog subsystem. TAOIST, a program
originally developed for a 12K core PDP-8, is an aid to the
engineer in the initial phases of hybrid and analog computer
problem solution. It accepts a description of the problem in
mathematical terms and provides the engineer with a list of
all problem variables, coefficients, scaling factors, and
other useful information. Upon assignment of analog equipment, the program wi II automati ca lIy do a II stati c checkout of every ana log component used in the ana log subsystem.
The last main point of discussion is the FOCHUS {FOrtran
Compi ler for Hybrid USers} program. This is a compi ler dWsigned to accept FORTRAN code, but also to be useful.
the engineer in the solution of hybrid problems since a fairly
close control over communication between the analog and
digital subsystems is allowed.
The paper concludes with some short mention of possible
future uses, modifications, and developments in software.

A.L.I.C.S. --- ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE BY
INFORMATION CONTROL SYSTEMS
Joseph A. Rodnite
Information Control Systems, Inc.
Ann Arbor, Michi gan
This paper describes the algorithms for the development and
implementation of an assembly language for the PDP-5/8
which makes the machine appear to the user to have every
core location directly addressable. Since a II of the bookkeeping is done by the assembler, relocation becomes practical. A special relocatable loader which allows subroutine
relocation is also described.
For. the first ti.me it becom~s practical for a user to bui Id ui
a library of bmary subroutmes and to load them as neede.
This feature alone justifies the development and use of the'
new language. The syntax of the new assembly language is
similar to PAL, so there will be little if any difficulty in
making existing routines re locatable.

SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE
DECAL COMPI LER

SPIRAL READER CONTROL AND DATA
ACQUISITION WITH PDP-4

Richard J. McQui Ilin
Inforonics Inc.
Maynard, Massachusetts

Jon D. Stedman
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, California

This paper describes work being carried on by the author for
the Decision Sciences Laboratory! ESD! as we II as other
work that has recently been completed on the development
of DECAL.

The spiral reader is a semiautomatic, fi 1m-digitizing machine
that is used by the Alvarez Physics Group at the Lawrence
Radiation Laboratory to measure photographs of elementary
nuclear particle interactions which are created in a hydrogen bubble chamber. This man-machine-computer system
has been measuring these event interactions at an average
rate of 75 per hour. As well as being the fastest overall
measuring system in operation, it has proven to be highly
reliable and easy to maintain.

The basic 1-core version of DECAL was released in its present form as DECAL -BBN in September, 1963. Since that
time there has been a general increase in memory t:apacity
of many PDP-lis, and DECAL has likewise been expanding.
The first development was the moving of the compi lerls symbor table into the second core field. This allowed large
programs with many symbols to be compi led. Next came a
2-core modification to allow the compi lation to be carried
out in sequence break mode. This doubled the speed of
compi lation. Recently there has been a further modification
to compile programs written in ASCII source language.
The author has been carrying on work to extend the DECAL
language. In particular the work has been in the area of
allowing real (floating point) variabfes and constants to be
handled automatica Ily in algebraic statements. The other
area of work has been to implement input/output facilities
in the DECAL language. This has lead to the development
of a language simi lar to the FORTRAN input, output, and
""')rmat statements.
Finally the author will discuss the desirability of implementation of DECAL on the other PDP computers. DECAL
has been developed into a powerful and elegant language
through many man-years of effort. Perhaps consideration
should be given to other machines, specifically the PDP-6
and PDP-7.

MESSAGE SWITCHI NG SYSTEM USING THE PDP-5
Sypko W. Andreae
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, California

This system incorporates several unique features that contribute to its efficient operation and high processing rate.
A PDP-4 computer controls the following functions: procedure sequencing, data acquisition, data conversion and
validity checking, data display, machine diagnostics, machine control, and reaction feedback to human interventions. The operations performed by the spiral reader are:
digitizing the event on the fi 1m, digitizing the fiducial
marks, advancing the film frames, and responding to human
control of its event centering stage via the "speed ball. II
Finally, and the most important part of the system is the human operator who is relied upon to monitor and control the
other two parts by looking at the data display CRT 1 reading
the indicative and diagnostic messages from the Teletype,
verifying the automatic fi 1m frame position using the control
button, recognizing and centering on events by means of
the "speed ball" finger control, and giving measure commanQs with a control button. This balanced combination of
man and machine has proven to be an excellent impedance
match with the other analysis procedures encountered in experimental bubble chamber physics.
ON-LINE REDUCTION OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS DATA
WITH THE PDP-7*
Phi lip R. Bevington
Department of Physics, Stanford University
Stanford, Ca lifornia

The system uses a PDP-5, a 630 System with ten Teletypes,
a DEC tape unit, and an IBM compatible tape unit. The
basic Laboratory layout entai Is many soundproof rooms in
each of which the subject can use one of the Teletypes.
The controlling program is essentially a simple time-sharing
-vstem of which the organization is outlined in this Paper.
.mong the many advantages of the existing system over the
cprevious manual method are improved traffic intensity, better record keeping, network control by the experimentets,
etc.

In the continuing debate over the relative merits of fixedwire ana Iyzers vs. computer systems for the acquisition of
nuclear physjcs data, the PDP-7 has emerged as an excellent compromise between cost and capabi lity. The advantages inherent in a computer system are illustrated wi th
specific ways in which the Stanford Computer for the Analysis of Nuc lear Structure (SCANS) is used to reduce, pointby-point, on-line data from nuclear physics experiments, as
well as to analyze such data with real-time control. Specifically, programs to identify and sort charged particles
with thick (E) and thin (dE/dx) solid state detectors, to stabilize the scale of pulse-height spectra, and to control the
acquisition of two-parameter data are discussed. The dead
time contributed by these programs is shown to be negligible. The equally important ability to control the subsequent analysis of these data in real-time is also discussed
with reference to the methods adopted by SCANS to accept,
record, and display the data.

Two examples of aames used in these experiments are given.

*Sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation.

At the Center for Research of Management Science at the
University of California, Berkeley, recently a message
switching system was constructed which is used for research
of human behavior in game situations.

PARAMET - A PROGRAM FOR THE VISUAL
INVESTIGATION OF PARAMETRIC EQUATIONS.*
Kenneth R, Bertram
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Li vermore, Ca Ii forn i a
Paramet is an operator oriented program which accepts parametric equations from a typewriter and produces a graphical
p~esentation on a CRT. Equations are of the form x = f1 (t),
y = f2(t); where fi(t} is any combination of the operations
ayai lable (i ,e., addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponentiation, logarithm, sine, and cosine). After
the equation is initially entered from the typewriter, control
is transferred to the light pen. With the light pen the operator can change the values of the various constants which
have been used in the equations. He can a Iso control operations such as sca ling, tape storage, and retrieval.
Paramet provides a convenient method of finding first approximations in curve fitting. The investigation of particular equations is readily pursued. As an educational tool,
Paramet provides the student with a feeling for his subject
more effectively than conventional methods.
*Work performed under the auspices of the U. S. Atomic
Energy Commission.
APPLICATION OF THE L1NC
Alan Boneau
Duke University
Temporari Iy Studying at Stanford University
Stanford, Cal ifornia
Operant conditioning is a procedure in which selected behavior of individual organisms is controlled by a judicious
choice of reward contingencies. This paper describes some
of the work of the three psychologists in the L1NC Evaluation Program and how they adapted L1NC to their operant
conditioning projects. The use of the computer in deal ing
with temporal response variables will be highl ighted.
THE LEARNING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
CENTER'S COMPUTER ASSISTED LABORATORY
Ronald G. Ragsdale
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
This paper describes the operation and planned applications
of a computer-assisted laboratory for social science research.
The laboratory centers around an 8K PDP-7 and its special
peripheral equipment, with most of the system already in
operation, Specia I devices inc lude random-access audio
and video, graphical input, touch-sensitive and blockmanipulation inputs. The control programs for these devi ces
are incorporated in an executive system which permits si.multaneous operation of six student stations. The system
may be used for presenting instructional material or for conducting psychologica I experiments.
TIME SHARING THE PDP-6
Thomas N. Hasti ngs
Digital Equipment Corporation
Maynard, Massachusetts
The PDP-6 time-sharing effort has been undertaken in two

distinct phases. The first phase is a multiprogramming sys-

iem in which all programs are resident in core and are controlled by users at Teletype consoles. Upto 256K of memory
may be used with I/o devices which include a card reader,
a line printer, 8 IBM compatible magnetic tapes, 8 addressf'···
able magnetic tapes (DECtapes), a paper tape reader, a pa
per punch, and up to 64 Teletypes. The addressable DECtapes permit storage and retrieval of programs and data by
fi Ie name. All I/o operation is overlapped with computation first for the user program requesting the input-output,
and secondly, for other user programs. In this way, the
central processor and the I/o devices are kept as busy as
possible. All user programs run re located and protected
from each other. Nine phase-one systems have been in operation in the field since May, 1965.
The second phase extends the multiprogramming capabi lities
by providing a fast secondary storage device for program
swapping by the monitor. Thus, more user programs may be
run simultaneously that can fit into core at the same time.
This I/o device is also avai lable for storage of user programs and data. Since device independence wi II be maintained, user programs wi II not need to be modified to make
use of the phase-two system.
A DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR SUBMARINE
WEAPONS SYSTEM EVALUATION UTILIZING A PDP-8
Robert H. Bowerman
U.S. Naval Underwater Ordnance Station
Newport, Rhode Island

f4

Th.is paper traces the data record~ng system r~quirements
shipboard weapons system tests In terms of Increased com- .
plexity. A newly designed system, presently under procurement, is described in terms of the above requirements and
also with regard to PDP-8 hardware utilized. In addition to
the basic computer and magnetic tape system (repackaged
for portabi lity and environmental protection), there is a
high-speed 20-character line printer and a set of multiplexed synchro-to-digital, and voltage-to-digital conversion modules to receive the shipboard signals. All components of the system are designed to function as PDP-8 perepheral devices, allowing expansion and modification by
program changes rather than by hardware redesi gn.
The place of this data system in the overall information
gathering operation is described, and the division of rusks
between the shipboard data system and the shore-based reduction programming is developed.
The system described has shown advantages of cost and flexibi lity, and is expected to be a powerfu I tool in future
weapon system evaluations.
PLANT WIDE COMPUTER CAPABILITY
James Mi lIer
Dow Badische Chemical Company
Freeport , Texas

_

This paper describes the current application of the comput'.
configuration at Dow Badische which includes a PDP-5,
DECtape 555, and 630 Communications System with six remote stations.
The paper begins with a 7-8 minute fi 1m describing Dow

Badische and how the off-line digital computer playsarole.,
The time-shared programming system, which allows all stations immediate access to the computer and a wide selection
of programs, is descri bed. The language used to faci Ii tate
;rogramming time-shared programs is outlined. The methods
.0 permit remote stations to compile and run FORTRAN programs remotely are also described.

cml

I ...

ral
jmp i gray to

Ibinary number in AC

COMPUTE PARITY AND COUNT BITS
1 __

PROGRAIViiviiNG NOTES

Jon

I
I
I
I
I
I
grayco,

Program I - Full Word Looping Operation
lac gray number
jms grayco
return with AC = binary number
requires 110 Ilsec per conversion
occupies 17 words in memory

gOl,

parity,

Iloop count 6

parl,

IBo = Go in the link

szl ral

lif

cml
szl ral
cml

lif Bj = 1, then Bj+ 1 = com-

szl ral
cml
isz gctr
jmp gOl
jmp i grayco
gtem,
gctr,

Bj = 0, then Bj+ 1 = G j+ 1

Iplement of G j+ 1

Icount 3-bit sets

0
0

IA minimum-space program with one iteration

per loop takes

Ivers ion

gray to,

Program II - Straightl ine Operation on 12-Bit
Gray Code
jms grayto
transforms a 12-bit Gray Code number in AC
into a 12-bH binary number in appl ications where
Gray numbers are 12 bits or less and time is vital
requ ires 50 Ilsec per conversion
occupies 28 words of memory

o
rtl
rtl
rtl
spa rtl
cml
szl ral

AC $: data word
jms parity
on entry

AC contains the data word

on return

AC is clear and bitc' contains
the binary bit count of the
data word.
I ink $: 1 if bit count is odd.
I ink $: 0 if bit count is even.

o
dzm bitc'
skp$/cll

Iclear binary bit count
Iclear parity link initially

isz bitc
sna
jmp i parity
dac parw'
tad (-0)
and parw
jmp pari

Icount bit

lexit when all bits clear

Iclear least significant bit
Iloop

NEWS ITEMS
NOTES ON THE JOI NT USERS GROUP
Richard J. McQui Ilin
DECUS Representative to JUG

113 words of memory and requires up to 175 Ilsec per con-

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

/
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

o
dac gtem
lam -6
dac gctr
lac gtem
ell ral

C".L __ L ____ _
,)r~uman

Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, California

GRAY CODE TO BI NARY CONVERSION ON PDP-7
Donald V. Weaver
Consultant
New York, N. Y.

1"'\

LI.

II ead ing zeros

Istarting algorithm for two
Ibits

Iten pairs Iike this . . .

On October 7 -9 a workshop on Programmi ng Language
Objectives of the late 1960's was held in Philadelphia,
sponsored by SHARE and JUG. The purpose of the workshop
was to provide a forum for manufacturers and users to discuss
the objectives of programming languages, how present languages meet these objectives, and how these objectives and
languages may change to meet future requirements. Emphasis was on emerging concepts such as network computing
systems, on-line interactive programming, and data management systems. Among the languages discussed were ALGOL,
COBOL, FORTRAN, LISP, SIMSCRIPT I and PL/1. Proceedi ngs of the workshop wi II be pub Iished.
The last meeting of JUG was held at the ACM meeting in
Cleveland on August 25. Reports were given on JUG activities on the ASA Standards Committees. In particular, discussion was held on JUG's conditionally affirmative vote on
the new proposed revised ASCII codes (prASCII), as well as
participation in the ASA X3.4.4 committee on COBOL
standardization. Those interested may get more information
on these from their JUG representatives.
A brief report was given by an IBM representative on the
implementation schedules for PL/I. IBM plans to introduce

several versions of the system, depending on memory size.
These are scheduled for delivery between March and September 1966. There would also be a version for time sharing.
At each level there would be two compilers: one for quick
compi ling with rather inefficient object coding; and the
other with efficient object coding, but slow compiling time.

be simply changed by reading - in a new control programr
second, when not in use as an analyzer it can be used in its
prime role as a computer; and third, it can also serve as a
remote station to the central processor, in th is case the PDP-6.

Work is proceeding with the publication of the Computer
Applications Digest (CAD). This will be a monthly publication of JUG that wi II give abstracts of current programs
and programmi ng systems of the JUG member societies. Costs
will be underwritten by the ACM, and publication will soon
begin on a trial basis.

The proceedings of the symposium he Id at Harvard University
in May are now avai lable. Copies have been sent to all
DECUS delegates. Please direct all requests for copies to
Mrs. Angela Cossette, DECUS, Maynard, Mass. 01754.

The next JUG meeting will be held in conjunction with the
FJCC in Las Vegas. All DECUS members are invited to attend.

ATTENTION DELEGATES

SPRING 1965 DECUS PROCEEDINGS

Please return your ballots for the election of DECUS officers as soon as possible~

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?
Due to the success of the Question-and-Answer Session at
the Spring DECUS Symposium, the Editor feels that it would
be beneficial to users to carry this over as a regular column
in DECUSCOPE. The user would submit questions regarding
problems he may be having with the software or hardware or
any other question he may have regarding DEC Equipment,
etc., to the Editor of DECUSCOPE. The questions and their
answers received from DEC personnel would be published in
DECUSCOPE. Although some questions would only be important to a particular installation, there wi II be many instances where these questions and answers would benefit
other users as we II.
In order to get this column lion its way", we ask that you
send in your questions as soon as possible. The questions
should be sent to: Mrs. Angela J. Cossette, DECUS, Digital
Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts 01754.

PDP-6 AND PDP-8 JOIN EMPEROR
VAN DE GRAAFF ACCELERATOR

Rochester University·s Nuclear Structure Research Laboratory
will be installing an on-line time-sharing computer system
for experimenting with its new Emperor Van de Graaff Accelerator some time in January. The system wi II be used for
time - shared computation and on-line data acquisition for
several nuc lear experiments. Major elements of the system
are PDP-6 and PDP-8 computers and a new intercommunication subsystem.

COMPUTER OPTIONS
MEMORY PARITY
TYPE 176
The Type 176 Memory Parity option extends each PDP-7
core memory word from 18 to 19 bits. It provides the hardware for generating and storing parity on transfers to memory and checking parity on transfers from memory. It is
completely independent of all parities produced and Checke(d'.. '
in periphera I devices.
'
I

The memory parity option works in the following manner:
1. On transfers to memory, the parity (19th) bit is set
so that the sum of 1 bits in the word is odd. This is
known as setting "odd parity. II
2. On a II transfers from memory, a check is made for
odd parity. If it is found, no special action is taken.
If it is not found, the resulting action is determined by
the setting of the three-position switch mounted on the
parity logic.
Position 1: Detection of an error in parity wi II cause
the setting of the parity error flip-flop.
This flip-flop is connected to the program
interrupt faci lity, the I/O skip faci lity,
and an indicator lamp. If the program interrupt is enab led, a pari ty error wi II resu It
ina program interrupt.

The PDP-6, which integrates the equipment and programming
needed for time-sharing use, wi II serve the computation needs
of several groups of researchers in the Structure Laboratory and
will perform on-line analyses of experimental data taken and
sorted on the PDP-8.

Position 2: Detection of a parity error wi II sti II cause
the parity error flip-flop to be set, but a
program interrupt wi II occur even if the
program interrupt control (PIC) is not enabled.

The PDP-8 wi II function in the system as a pu Ise height analyzer, recording results of subatomic particle interactions
induced by the accelerator, sorting the data, and passing it
on when requi red to the PDP-6 for detai led analysi s.

Position 3: Again, the parity error flip-flop wi II be
set, but now the computer will halt at th4"
completion of the current memory cyc Ie',
It may be restarted in the usua I manner.

Acomputerwasemployed forthisfunction instead of a special
purpose analyzer because it provides the system with a threefold flexibility. First, the mode of pulse height analysis can

3. The parity error flip-flop and associated indicator
may be cleared by an lOT instruction or by use of any
of the keys except STOP and CON TI N UE.

Two lOT instructions are provided with the Type 176:
702701

'02702

SPE

CPE

Skipon parity error. The next instruction in the sequence is skipped if the
parity error flip-flop is set.
C lear pari ty error. The pari ty error
flip-flop is reset.

Associated with the memory parity option is an indicator
panel which contains four indicators:

CBR

/Clear Boundary register

(leave executive progrelm)
If the b-oundary register is used on a PDP-7 with greater
than 8K memory, it wi II protect the designated area in each
8K memory bank.
--

DECUS PROGRAM LIRRARY

READ PARITY

On jf parity bit was set when memory
was read

WRITE PARITY

On if parity bit was set when memory
was written

Title:

Compressed Binary Loader (CBL) Package

PARITY ERROR

On if parity error has occurred

Authors:

WRONG PARITY

Used for maintenance only

Michael S. Wolfberg and Charles Kapps, Moore
School of Electrical Engineering, University of
Pennsylvania

BOUNDARY REGISTER AND CONTROL
TYPE KA70A
The Type KA70A Boundary Register and Control is designed
to allow the programmer to protect a section of memory from
modification by programs in the remainder of memory. It is
designed to operate in conjunction with the I/o trap mode.
The boundary register is a 3-bit register whose bits correspond to 1024, 2048, and 4096 in the address portion of an
instruction. When any of these bits are set to 1 and the I/o
trap is enabled, the program may not address any address
)wer than the value contained in the boundary register.
"All addresses equal to or greater than this value are considered illegal and will result in a program break (see I/o
trap descri pti on) .
The boundary register is loaded from AC bits 15, 16, and 17
by an lOT instruction. Since the bits of the boundary register correspond to 1024, 2048, and 4096, it is possible for
the programmer to protect 1 K, 2K, ••• up to 7K of an 8K
memory by setting the appropriate bi ts. The protected section always starts at 00000, and only 1024-word increments
can be protected.
The following lOT instruction are used with boundary register and control:
701404

SBR

Set boundary register. Loads the
boundary register with the contents
of AC bits 15, 16, and 17.

701701

CBR

C lear boundary register.

The boundary register cannot be set or cleared whi Ie in the
I/o trap mode. A proper sequence of instructions wou Id be:
PROTEK,

LAC

BOUND

/Read

boundary setting

SBR

/Set boundary register

ITON

/Enable trap

(trap or program break to
executive program)

PDP-5 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DEC US NO. 5-26

PDP-5 Installations using an ASR-33 Teletype for reading in
binary tapes can save significant time (approximately 25%)
by taking advantage of all eight channels of the- tape. The
CBL loader only occupies locations 7700 through 7777. The
tape is formatted into individual blocks, each with a checksum.
On detection of ,Q.n error, the loader halts so the tape may
be repositioned in the leader area of the block which caused
the error.
PAL II has been modified to punch in CBL format, and a
DDT -5-3 (comparable to DDT -5-5, DECUS No. 5-19) has
been wr itten .
The following programs are included in the package:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

CBL Loader
CBC Converter (BIN to CBL)
CONY Converter (CBL to BI N)
PAL IIC
(punches CBL format)
DDT-5-3 (reads and punches CBL format)
PDP-7 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS
DECUS NO. 7-9

Title:

Scope Text Editor for the PDP-7/340 (S1)

Author: N. E. Wiseman, University of Cambridge, England
Sl is a general purpose on-I ine text editing program for ASCll
8-track paper tape documents. The program is controll ed by
commands issued via the Iight pen and keyboard, and monitoring of the text is provided by the CRT which serves as a
"window" into a selected area of the text. The action point
foran edit function is determined by the position ofa pointer I
displayedasan underline symbol, which may be moved anywhere in the text. The text is held by the program in a circular buffer havinga capacity of around 3000 characters. If
additions are made to the text when the buffer is full, the
head of the buffer is automatically punched out to make room
for the tail. In this way arbitrarily large documents can be
passed through the editor although access at any moment is
limited to the most recent 3000 characters.
Program uses 228 to 27778
Text buffers use from 3000 to 17766
8
8

NEW DECUS MEMBERS
PDP-S DELEGATES

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS (Continued)

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS (Continued)

Ronald L. Chandler
Remington Arms Co., Inc.
Bridgeport, Connecticut

William B. Baker
Ph ill ips Petroleum Co. AED
Idaho Falls, Idaho

Fred C. Marshall
Federal Aviation Agency
Portuguese Bend, California

PDP-SIB DELEGATES

Robert H. Bowerman
U. S. Naval Underwater Ordance
Station, Newport, Rhode Island

Carl H. McClure, Jr.
The Foxboro Company
Natick, Massachusetts

Robert M. Boynton
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York

H. Bjerrum Moller
Danish Atomic Energy Commission
Roskilde, Denmark

John J. Byrnes
Systems Research Laboratories
Manhattan Beach, California

lloyd J. Ostiguy
Inforonics
Maynard, Massac husetts

Nils Gottberg
Autokemi AB
Stockholm, Sweden

Louis D. Coffin
Batte II e - Northwest
Richland, VVashington

James F. Powlowski
NASA, MSC
Houston , Texas

Hans Petterson
Autokemi AB
Stockholm, Sweden

T. D. Cradduck
Manitoba Cancer Foundation
VVinnipeg, Manitoba Canada

Bertil Uggla
Autokemi AB
Stockholm, Sweden

Fred Feagin
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

PDP-B DELEGATE

Jack J. Fishman
The Foxboro Company, DSD
Natick, Massachusetts

Gunnar Ju ngner
Autokemi AB
Stockholm, Sweden
Ingemar Jungner
Autokemi AB
Stockholm, Sweden

Andrew Gabor
Potter I nstrum ent Co., Inc.
Plainview, New York
Ole Hestvik
The Technical University of Norway
Trondheim, Norway

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS
Serg io Ahumada R.
Centro de Calculo Electronico U.N .A.M.
Mexico

Tore G. Arbeus
Telare AB
Stockholm, Sweden

Harland D. Goodwin
Phillips Petroleum Company
Idaho Falls, Idaho
Michael Green
Case Institute of Technology
Cleveland, Ohio
Roger A. Hussey
Northeastern University
(DSl, Hanscom Field)
Bedford, Massachusetts
Sven Jansson
Telare AB
Stockholm, Sweden
Charles Kapps
University of Pennsylvania
Ph iladelph ia, Pennsylvania

Doug las A. Ramsay
V. A. Hospita I, Psychology Svc.
New York, New York
R. VV. Ranshaw
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Martha H. Richardson
The Foxboro Company
Foxboro, Massac husetts
Philip B. Sampson
Tufts University
Medford, Massachusetts
Robert Sanders
Sylvania Electronic Products
VValtham, Massachusetts
Troy l. VVi II iams
NASA - MSC
Houston, Texas

Ken VVray
320 Morgan Cres.
Kirkfield Park, Manitoba Canada

DECUSCOPE I, pubHohed monthly foo- DIgItal EquI,...n;)
Computer Users Society (OECUS).
,~
Material for publication should be sent to: Mrs. Angela .
J. Cossette, OECUS, Maynard, Massachusetts 01754.
Publications Chairman: Joseph Lundy, Inforonics, Inc.
Circulation: 1,400 copies per month

DECUSCOPE
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT COMPUTER USERS SOCIETY

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1965
Nos. 11 & 12
Volume 4

DOW-BADISCHE PLANT-WIDE COMPUTER CAPABILITY
James Mi Iler
Dow Badische Chemical Company
Freeport , Texas
Periodically an operations man makes a tou"r of the control
instrument area to log in specific items of data such as temperature, pressure, flow rates, composition of streams, and
tank levels. Normally, as many as 60 entries are checked
to see that the values are within specified limits.

Dow-Badische Chemical Company manufactures chemical
intermediates which include caprolactam, acrylic monomers,
and butanol. The plant is located 50 miles south of Houston ,
Texas, about five miles from the Gulf of Mexico. In 1964,
Dow-Badische purchased a PDP-5 computer with 4K memory,
a Type 555 DECtape having one dua I transport, and a 630
Data Communi cations System with six remote stations.

With the aid of the computer and suitable input/output devices, much more information is extracted. An actual survey is made of what has happened since the last set of recorded data, allowing the operations personnel to take action
if product distribution is poor. Response is rea lized over
periods of 4 or 8 hours, with such resu Its as:

A remote station, placed in each control area, provides
"-':)mputer capabi Ii ty throughout the plant and the resu Its have
-'" .::en most satisfying. The distance from the farthest station
to the central processor along the route of the cable is onehalf mile. Each station consists of one ASR-33 Teleprinter
operating on full duplex with reader-stop capabi lity. This
requires a six-conductor cab Ie to each station and makes possible FORTRAN compi ling, which calls for intermittent tape
reading and punching.

1. Assurance that the flow of materia Is into and
out of equipment has proceeded as desired.
2. Rapid evaluation of the effect of deliberate
process changes.
3. Rapid and exact measurement of the effect of
unintentional process changes.

Dow-Badische has equipped each teleprinter with a rollaround pedestal which allows the stations to be moved with
considerable ease from office to office, or to a control room
in the same bui Iding.

V/ithout the computer such evaluations require tedious hand
calculating which is time consuming and cannotbe performed
more than five times a week.

STATION

STATION

STATION

STATION

STATION

STATION

1

2

3

4

5

6

U

"

t

I

~,

~,

,

~, , ,, ,, , ~
630
COMMUNICAT IONS
SYSTEM

"

DECTAPE

- ...

"

PDP- 5
(4K)

--

....

-

STATION
LOCAL

Aspecial time-shared programming system has been developed
providing each control area with immediate access to the
central processor computer, and allowing ease of interpretati on of data by computer users.
The Time-Shared Programming System
All the double precision mathematical routines are gathered
into one compact area slong with a text conversion routine
and a DECtape write and read routine. The executive routine does not use the interrupt because in this system no main
program exists which gathers data or sends information to remote stations. Instead, each teleprinter operates a complete
and independent program of its own, with selection of new

o

I\

1000

~

L

2000

3000

programs occurring simultaneously with the operation of other
station programs. This system allows each teleprinter 17msec
out of every 100 msec; it a Iso responds to a II flags of the
DECtape system. Surrender of the computer occurs on in~t
or output functions.
Each station has an area three pages long for its program
plus one page which serves to link the station to the common mathematical text and DECtape routines. Programs requiring more them three pages are chained together bycalling subsequent portions from DECtape into the same threepage area under program control. No interruption of other
programs in progress occurs. Very long programs can be devised in this fashion.

4000

5000

~

J

7000

6000

I

'------y-----'

DECTAPE ROUTINE, BIN LOADER, ETC.
USED AS A COMMON REFERENCE
ACTUAL PROGRAM, STATION :# 5 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _...J

I

CONNECTING ROUTINES, STATION #5 ----------------~
MATH, EXECUTIVE, AND TELETYPE ROUTINES _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _---J
DECTAPE ROUTINE FOR ALTERNATING BETWEEN _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~
TIME-SHARING AND FORTRAN PROGRAMS

Messages can be sent from one station to another except
when a station is on-line.
By means of a special DECtape routine located in the top
page of memory, a remote station may take over the entire
memory and compile or operate FORTRAN programs in design calculations. This alternating between "remote mode"
and "time-sharing mode" i~ performed without assistance
from personne I at the central processor. To prevent serious
conflicts a schedule of hours is posted indicating when remote mode is permitted.
By means of the new PAL, a time-sharing "Ianguage" was
developed. The majority of technical people write programs
in this language. Programmers need not understand the details of basic time-sharing and DECtape programming; with
PAL III it is possible to store all the pseudo instructionswith
the assembler, making it easier for the random programmer.
In addition, more than half the salaried technical people
and some hourly employees are capable of writing timeshared and FORTRAN programs. This is the result of an intensive programming instructioo project developed within
the concept of plant-wide computer capabi lity.

The Dow-Badische system has the following advantages:
1. It costs less. It is expensive to convert existing data-gathering equipment from the more conventional air-operated style to digital signalproducing equipment or to provide converters.
2. Dow-Badische processes are constantly being
upgraded; the present system demands on Iy simp Ie
program changes.
3. The computer makes short-term "brush fire"
projects quite simple to undertake. With other
more complicated systems, such flexibi lity is often
difficult and at times unavailable.
Briefly, with a total investment of $70,000, Dow-Badische
has placed in five control areas a computer capable of:
1. Routine calculations
2. Routine records keeping
3. Plant performance evaluation
4. Design calculations

Summary
Some chemical companies have the computer do automatic
data logging by tying into direct sensing devices in the
plant. Still others IIclose the loopll by not only ~ensing data
but also executing changes in plant operation under computer contro.!.

5. Addit iona I user's commands.

This paper was presented at the Fall 1965 DECUS Symposium
and wi II also be publ ished in the proceedings of this meeting.

DECUS FALL SYMPOSIUM EPILOGUE

NEW DECUS PUBLICATIONS

John T. Gi Imore, Jr.
C. W. Adams Associates Inc.
DECUS Meetings Chairman - 1965

Recently, a mailing of the new DECUS Library Catalog was
sent to all individual members of DECUS. Those who have
appl ied for individual membership since November 15th wi II
receive their copies shortly.

This symposium, like the one this spring, was schedu led to
•
• I
-.1.1
I • • ,...
_ . __ ,... __ (" _ _ _ _ _ _
• _
L..
_
COInClae wlrn rne JOinT ~ompUI'eI _~orneIence In me same
part of the country in order to accomodate those traveling
from afar. There seems to be no reason to change this procedure as long as DECUS continues to find gracious hosts at
the right places at the right times. It was also the first attempt at a double session, single-day symposium and it appeared to be well received.
I

Of particular interest was the talk given by guest speaker
David R. Brown of Stanford Research Institute on the logical
design and implementation of future computers.
The sophisticated use of display scopes for data acquisition
and general man-machine communication techniques was most
impressive as were the tours of the Stanford Computation
Center, the Medical Center and the Linear Acceleration
Center.
The delegates meeting was a surprise to many in that it included a discussion of the controversial subject of what to
do with symposium papers which describe copyrighted pro. 'ams which are for sale. The impact of exchanging software
1• .Jr money between users and outside professionals cou Id cause
some sweeping changes to DEC US, and it was therefore decided to encourage further discussion 0 f the subject via
DEC USC OPE and by a panel discussion session at next spring's
symposium.
In summarization; the symposium was another step towards
fulfilling the DECUS goal of information exchange.

Delegates will be receiving their catalogs in anew f attractive iiDECU5 Notebook ll which is now befng mai led. These
notebooks contain information that we feel every delegate
should have on hand to effectively keep active his installation in the "users group. II Included, for example, is a copy
of the revised DECUS bylaws, library catalog, a section for
current issues of DEC USC OPE, a DECUS brochure, indexes
of past issues of DECUSCOPE and Proceedings, and a list of
delegates noting the type of computer each owns. Periodically, material wi II be sent to update or supplement the information contained within the notebook.
Due to the costs involved in supplying these notebooks, we
can only send one complimentary notebook for each computer
owned. Additional copiesmay be obtained at a cost of $3.00
each • However, if your installation has several PDPs and
only one registered delegate, please contact the DECUS
office for additional installation applications. Each new
delegate will automatically receive a notebook. Noninstallation members may obtain copies at $3.00 each.
We feel these notebooks are another step toward increasing
the effectiveness of DECUS. We appreciate receiving your
comments and/or suggestions regarding these notebooks.
Please direct requests for copies to the DECUS Executive
Secretary, DECUS, Maynard, Massachusetts.

NEW DECUS OFFICERS
The following are the newly elected DECUS Officers ror
1966-67:
President:

DECUS BYLAWS REVISED
During the recent election, DECUS delegates voted on several bylaw revisions. All approved revisions have been incorporated into the old bylaws and new sets have been
printed and are being sent to all delegates. Individual members and others who would like a copy should contact the
DECUS Executive Secretary.

John B. Goodenough
Electronic Systems Division
Air Force Systems Command
Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts
Recordi ng Secretary:
Richard G. Mills
MIT Project MAC
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Meetings Chairman:

EDITOR'S NOTE
/.Je to the time spent in preparation of the FALL DECUS SYMPOSIUM, this issue of DECUSCOPE combines the November
and December editions. DECUS is growing rapidly, making
deadlines that much more difficult to meet. However, our
New Year's resolution is publ ication before the 15th of every
month.

Donald A. Molony
Rutgers University
New Brunswi ck, New Jersey
Executive Secretary (Appointed)
Ange la J. Cossette
Digital Equipment Corporation
Maynard, Massachusetts

DETAB/65 AVAILABLE FROM
JUG REPRESENTATIVE
JUG (Joint Users Group) has recently distributed copies of
DETAB/65 totheuser group representatives. DETAB/65 is a
COBOL-oriented decision table language that is designed to
reduce complex decision rules to tabular form. When debugging complex programs, detai led coding of dec ision tables
tends to be reduced to careful analysis. The present version of DETABwasdeveloped by Working Group 2 on Decision
Tables of the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN) of the Los Angeles chapter of the ACM.
The following abstract is provided with the package.
liThe DETAB/65 preprocessor converts limited-entry decision
tables contained within COBOL programs into a form acceptable by a COBOL compi ler.
II The preprocessor was designed to fac iIi tate easy modi fi cation
for various COBOL implementations. It can be used either
alone (a s a preprocessor) 0 r incorporated into a COBOL
compiler.

liThe preprocessor has been successfully compiled and executed upon the CDC 1604-A, 3400, 3600, and on the IBM
7040, 7044, and 7090/94 computers.
liThe preprocessor package consists of the following:
1. Abstract
2. The DETAB/65 Language
3. A description ofthe Basic Algorithm used in the
DETAB/65 Preprocessor
4. DETAB/65 Users Manual
5. Decision Table Bibliography
6. Preprocessor Card Deck and Listing
7. Test Deck. II
Inquiries may be made to the DEeUS office.

PROGRAMMING NOTES
PDP-7 FORTRAN II
PROGRAMMING NOTES FOR THE PDP-7
Edmund S. Fine and Daniel J. Gold
New York University
University Heights, New York
The following suggestions may be of use to PDP-7 FORTRAN II
users.
1. During FORTRAN execution, (i. e., reading
and punchingof data tapes,) AC switches 9and.l 0
placed in the up position indicate ASCII tape input and output; in the down position, FIODEC tape
input and output.
2. When inserting a set of S-coded symbol ic instructions within a FORTRAN program, be sure that
the first instruction is:
S [tab] LFM
If this precaution is not taken, some of the symbol ic
instructions may be interpreted as floating point
commands which lead to improper execution of the
program.
3. In using the 340 CRT Display with FORTRAN,
the following sequence may save the program'jf'
from retyping a large section of S-coded symb~
programm i ng .
a. Prepare FORTRAN program with the following sequence at the location where display
is desired:

S
S
S

LFM
JMP DISPLA
GOBACK, NOP

b. The symbol ic-coded display program should
begin:
DISPLA,

BEST WISHES FOR YOUR HAPPINESS

INTH~JPa

and end:
JMP GOBACK
START
Note that there is no S in the first field of the
entire display tape.
c. The FORTRAN program should be compiled
in the usual manner, but the symbol ic-coded
display section should not be compiled.

from the
DECUS Staff

d. Read the FORTRAN compiler output tlae.
into the Symbol ic Tap e Editor. Delete
II START II which is at the end of the tape, a u
punch out the corrected tape.
e. Assemble the tapes together using the FORTRAN Assembler, reading the Editor-corrected
FORTRAN compiler output in first.

f. Continue from here according to the normal
FORTRAN procedure.
r:ommunication between the segments may be easily achieved
'·ough the useof integer variables as described in the FOR'-.I{AN II MANUAL, DIGITAL-7-2-S. This general procedure may also be used for other symbol ie-coded program
segments.

PROGRAMMING MEMORANDUM
CHANGE IN PDP-8 MEMORY EXTENSION
D .A. Campbell
The Foxboro Company
Natick, Massachusetts
DEC has recently made a change in the operation of the CDF
(Change Data Fie!d) instruction on the PDP-8.

PDP-7 PARITY TEST/GENERATE PROGRAMS
Donald V. Weaver, Consultant
New York, N.Y.
Some Teletype devices punch even parity in channel 8 of
ASCII code. The program to verify input parity is modified
to generate parity on output.
Program I

Full Word Looping Operation

The current

data field is used as part of the memory referencing address
only after a deferred cycle (i .e., if the instruction is an
"indirect"). Otherwise, the current instruction field is used
as the high-order portion of the address.
This was not true on the PDP-5 which always used the data
field for the address. While this modification allows more
efficient coding (as shown in the example) many PDP-5 routineswhich are not coded to obtain information directly from
another memory bank do not work properly on the PDP-8.

/

ims parity

Example 1 PDP-5 Coding (Instruction Field=l; Data Field=l)

/
/
/
/

each bit of contents of AC is rotated into the link
whereamodul02 sum of previous bits is half-added
to itj any character length may be used; program
iterates until AC is clear

tag,

/

requires under 50 jJsec on 8-bit ASCII code

parity,

0
c II rar
szl cll rar
cml
sza
imp .-3
szl
imp error
imp i parity

/sum is zero initially
/O+b. = b.
/l+b! = b! complemented
I
I

cdf 0
/switch to data field 0
tad z 1
/get bank 0 info
cdf 10
/back to bank 1
dca temp 1 /store in bank 1
cdf 0
/back down to get
tad z 2
/a second word
cdfl0
dca temp2

Example 2
tag,

for, tad C200

Note that final skip-test and next instruction are "parameters"
of the program generator:

New PDP-8 Coding (Instruction Field=l i Data
Field=l )

cdf 0
tad i al
dca templ
tad i a2
dca temp2
cdf 10

/switch down
/get thru indirect
/12-bi t address

1
2
0
0

/12-bit addresses

/"directs" store in
/instruction field bank

1. Reverse sense of skip for odd parity test.
2. Select desired action by next instruction--stop
on input disparity or generate output parity.
3. Instead use isz parity in an all-use program with
standard procedures for a "dual return. II
4. If processing both types of parity, leave skiptest and action for main program.
Program II

al,
a2,
temp 1,
temp2,

/temporary storage

USING STANDARD RIM OR BINARY LOADERS
FOR MULTI BANK LOADING IN THE PDP-8

High Speed Operation on 8-bit ASCII Code

/
/

executes in 20 to 30 jJsec per 8-bit ASCII code requ ires 19 words of memory

parity,

0
c II rar
szl cll rar
cml

D. A. Campbell
The Foxboro Company
Natick, Massachusetts
Reference: Change in PDP-8 Memory Extension

/event times 1, 2, and 3

szl cll rar /seven pairs like this
cml
szl
imp error
for, tad C200j or, isz parity
imp i parity
See note at end of Program I

Because of the modification in the CDF (change data field)
function on the PDP-8, any standard DEC RIM or Binary Loaders will load into any 4K bank of core memory with proper
manipulation of the console switches. Operate the desired
loader in the standard manner with the following exceptions:
1. Set the memory bank in which the loader is
located in the instruction field switches only.
2. Set the bank required to load the tape in the
data field switches.

3. Press LOAD ADDRESS key and START
4. Program tape will be loaded into the bank designated in the data field switches.

The final skip-test and non-skip action on leaving the loop
are parameters in a program generator:
1. Reverse the sense of the skip to test for od.s:J..;
pari ty tape.

5. To load another tape into the same bank, press
CONTINUE. To load a tape into another bank,
reset data field switches and reload address.

2. Use isz parity in a dual-use program with dual
return to actions specified in the main program.

3. Select desired non-skip action by this instruc-

This concept will work with other types of programs (such as
the Core Memory Search program, etc.) provided the program occupies only one core page (i.e., does not communicate between core pages with internal indirect references
other than JMP or JMS) using indirect references only to
obtain or store information external to the program when
multibank access is desired.
PARITY COMPUTE/TEST/GENERATE PROGRAMS
FOR PDP-8
Donald V. Weaver, Consultant
New York, N.Y.
The PDP-8lacks a micro-operation to set skip-and-rotate in
a single cycle like the PDP-7 I s unique routine
szl cll rar
cml

/PDP-7

tion in a special ized program. Stop on input di sparity or generate output parity.
4. Omit these instructions if desired in processing
both odd and even parity tapes, placing them in the
main program.
Program II

The great majority of ASCII data characters contain four or
more 1-bits, so that a straight-line operation, omitting spa
in high-volume appl ications, gives efficient results.
/
/
/
/

ims parity
requires 40 !-,sec plus or minus one cycle on any
8-bit code occupies 18 words in memory plus 1
constant

parity,

0
c II rtr
tad MI
rar
tad MI

/channel 1 in AC
O
/=4000
/six pairs like this ••.

szl cia

for, snl for odd parity test/general:

which is the kernel of an ultra-fast program to test and/or
generate parity on the PDP-7 . However, the PDP-? can simulate this action by:
rar
spa
tad MI

/PDP-8
/=400

Iterating this sequence erases each 1-bit in the AC and adds
it into a modulo 2 sum in the link, for parity determination
of characters punched on paper tape in the ASCII even-parity
format of new Teletype devices.
The small kernel ofthis loop and loop control withouta counter
suggests it may be used in-line to compute parity in special
applications:
cll
rar
spa
tad MI
sza
jmp .-4

Program I

See note at end of Program I
Program III

Fu II Word Looping Operation

/
/
/

jms parity
requires 40 to 70 !-,sec on the 64-character data
set in ASCII

parity,

0
cll rar
rar
spa
tad MI
sza
jmp .-4
szl
isz parity
imp i parity

/channel 2, 3, •.• in the Iink
/=4000

lor snl fo r odd parity test/generate
for, imp error; or, tad C200

Specialized Program

The final stageofrar, tad MI (Program II above) is not needed
in a special program to generate parity for compatible tapes
since the raw code contains no more than 7 bits.

/
/

The following subroutines are provided for general use.

/ ...

isz parity for, specific action
imp i parity

/
/
/=4000

Highspeed Straightl ine Operation

ims pargen
occupi es 16 words
requires 35 !-,sec plus or minus one cycle to complete the action

pargen, 0
c II rtr
/channel 1 in AC
O
tad MI
/=4000
rar
tad MI
rar
tad MI
rar
tad MI
rar
tad MI
rar
tad MI
szl cia
tad C200
imp i pargen
lend

~-

DECUS PROGRAM LIBRARY

4. Block sh i fti ng of words in memory I wh i ch a Iso
allows filling up blocks with a single word.

PDP-5 PROGRAM LIBRARY ADDITIONS

5. Word search with mask, output in symbolic
format.

oECUS No. 5-1 .1
Title:

6. Symbolic dump which includes:

BPAK - A Binary Input-Output Package for the

a. variable format controlled by switch register

ono_1::
, ..."
-oJ

Author:

P • T. Brady, New York Universi ty

This is a revision of the binary package ori gina IIy written by
A.D. Hause of Bell Telephone Laboratories (DECUS No. 5-1).
With BPAK the user can read in binary tapes via the photoreader and punch them out via the Teletype punch. It may
be used with any in-out device, but is presently written for
the photoreaderandTeletype punch. Asimplemodification,
described in the write-up, converts BPAK so that it reads
from the Teletype reader if the photoreader is disabled. In
its present form it occupies locations 7600-7777 and incorporates these features:
1. Readin of BIN or RIM tapes with checksum verification, Teletype-character-ignore-provision (so
that PAL error codes wi II be ignored), and ejection
of the end-of-tape from photoreader. Entry is load
address 7777; START.
2. "Verify" mode, which is identical to readin
except that the program is not stored in memory.
This is very useful in checking on correct punchoutof tapes (via the checksum) without spoiling the
stored program.
3. Punchout in either RIM or BI N format. Checksum may be punched when desired. Use of readin
mode wi II not affect punchout checksum.

b. type out of effective addresses on a" instructions
c. ability to recognize seven in-out device
groups
d. trim-code interpretation of word (SR op,tion).
7. All dumps are interrupted by striking any Teletype key, allowing rapid termination of any dump
without using computer console.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES IN OPAK
Two new features have been added to OPAK (both OPAK
regu lar and abbreviated) which shou Id make its operation
slightly easier. The manner of using OPAK is virtually unchanged. The new features are:
1. There is no longer a need to type initial zeros.
If you wish to examine register 0207, simply type
207E,$. The symbol ,$ denotes space. If you wish to
store 0000 into some register when loading data, type
one zero. Numbers are st ill right-ad justed • If on Iy
a space or comma is typed, the register is left alone.

DECUS No. 5-2.1
Title:

OPAK - An On-Line Debugging Program for the
PDP-5

Author:

P • T. Brady I New York Universi ty

OPAK (octal package) is a uti lity program which enables the
user to load, examine, and modify computer programs by
means of the Teletype. This program is a revision of the
program writtenbyA.D. Hause, Bell Telephone Laboratories
(DECUS No. 5-2). Extensive use of the program has suggested many refinements and revisions of the original program,
the most significant additions being the word search and the
break point. The standard version ofOPAK is stored in 6200
to 7577 and also 0006. An abbreviated version is available
(7000 to 7577, 0006) which is identical to the other except
that it has no provision for symbolic dump. Both programs
are easily relocated. Control is via Teletype, with mnemonic codes, (e.g., "B" for inserting breakpoint, IIp" for
proceed, etc.). This program includes:
1. Single or multiple register examination in symbolic or octal.
2. Single or multiple register loading in octal.
3. Breakpoint with accessible accumulator and
link.

Previously, if a nonoctal character was typed in load mode,
it was ignored. Now nonoctal characters are illegal (except for space and comma), and if typed will cause an immediate reentry of the II E" mode. In the following example
X represents any nonocta I character.
4000L 3523X4000=3523
Also,
4320E 4320=7021 4334E4320=4334
2. Whenever OPAK is in keyboard listen mode, the
accumu lator wi" contain the following information:
a. No breakpoint in effect, AC=O.
b. Breakpoint in effect, AC=breakpoint location.
It is possible at a glance to determine OPAK's breakpoint status.
The insertion of the above features required extensive revision 0 f memory locations 7000-7377. A new symbolic
dump has been prepared. The remainder of OPAK is unchanged, except for 7576 and 7577.

.. ~\~

DECUS No.

S/8~

The Dice Game written by E. Steinberger, Digital Equipment
Corporation, has been revised to operate on either the PDP-S
or PD~8, and makes use of the program interrupt faci Ii ty.

Place the tape in the ASR33 reader with pins under the
first character.
Turn reader to ready.
Press CONTI NUE four times.

f·

When reader stops, entry may be made at 7600 (to clear me ..
ory), or in normal fashion to RIM or BIN.
[jECUS No. S/8-27
Title:

ERC Boot

Author:

L. J. Peek, J_r., Western Electric, Princeton,

NEWS ITEMS

New Jersey
The ERC Boot is a bootstrap routine somewhat simpler than
the one presentiy avai lab Ie for the PDP-8. This routine restores the entire last page, consisting of:
1.

Q

Clear Memory Routine,

PDP-8 COMPUTER CONTROLLING
lSO-FOOT STANFORD ANTENNA
A computer-controlled system which aims a lSO-foot parabolic antenna at signal sources in the sky has been developed
by the Radio Physics Laboratory of Stanford Research Institute.

2. RIM Loader and,
3. Modified Binary Loader.
The Clear Memory routine is entered at 7600 (octal). It clears
(to 0000) the lower 31 pages of memory, then branches to the
Bi nary Loader.
Themodified Binary Loader halts after reading tape with the
checksum in the accumulator. If the binary tape is properly
terminated, pressing CONTI NUE takes a branch to the beginning location ofthe program. PAL compiled programs may
be properly terminated by ending the PAL symbolic tape in
the foll.owing manner:

The antenna is used for space and astronomy experiments by
scientists from Stanford Research Institute and Stanford University. The studies include radio and radar astronomy, communications, and satellite tracking.
The heart of the control system is a PDP-8. The computer
generates signals derived from commanded scanning patterns
to home the antenna precise lyon its target.
Included in the system with the PDP-8 are its console te.·
printer, a high-speed perforated tape reader by which'
pointing ephemerides are loaded, a 4096-word core memory
where they are stored, and two digital-to-analog converters
suppLying output signals to the antenna servo system.

UNIVERSITY OF AACHEN USING PDP-6
IN HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS RESEARCH
The Physics Department of the Technical University of Aachen
is using a PDP-6 computer to control a system analyzing
data in hi gh energy physics research.
*START (any named starting address)

$
The Binary Loader stores the octal value for START in the
location labeled ORIGI N in BI N. The instruction following
HLT in BIN is replaced by JMP I ORIGIN (S616), causing a
branch to START.
Instructions for the bootstrap operation are as follows: Togg Ie
in the instructions beginning at 0030.
0030

Load Address

7404
6036
7012
7010

Deposit
Deposi t
Deposit
Deposit
Deposit
Deposi t
Deposi t
LOAD ADDRESS
START

302S
2034

S030
0030

The data is contained in photographi c fi Ims showing tracks
of high energy particles interacting in the liquid of a bubble
chamber. To faci Ii tate rapid and precise coordinate measurements of tracks in a large sample of events, a set of six
di gitized projectors are connected on line to the PDP-6 system. This allows operators to immediately check and analyze the measured data at each of the six devi ces. By appropriate messages the operators are told which events to
measure and, in case of an error, when to repeat the measurements. An appreciable gain in accuracy and speed is
expected, compared to conventional off-line measuring
techniques.
The PDP-6 consists of arithmetic processor and console tet_
printer, 32,768-word core memory, 200-card-per-mi nute
reader, 300-line-per-minute printer, data control, dual
DECtape transports and control, two industry-compatib Ie
magnetic tape transports and control, and a data communications system with six remote input/output stations.

Other physics research using the PDP-6 in on-line particle
interaction studies and in automati c fi 1m-reading is being
conducted at the University of Bonn and at Massachusetts
.Jnstitute of Technology. The computer's time-sharing ap:cations include a centralized computing service for use
'simultaneously by many scientific and engineering staff
members at the Rand Corporation in Ca lifornia.

An example of the added flexibi Iity provided by the new
switching concept is the 680's ability to deal with lines of
different speeds and character sizes, with no wiring changes
needed to mix Iines and change their operating characteristics.

SCIENTISTS DEVELOP HIGH-SPEED
DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM

Economy results from eliminating the large numbers of flipflops. In an eight-level code system, 17 fl ip-flops wou Id
be required for each line, eight on the line side and eight
on the computer side for data and an additional one to show
line status. Others are required for control signals.

Ahigh-speed data acquisition system has been developed by
scientists at Battelle-Northwest, Richland, Washington, for
initial use in a planned series of nuclear reactor containment
system experiments.

In earlier Teletype line scanning systems supplied by DEC as
many as 48 Iines have been used, each requiring at least 17
flip-flops, plus mounting equipment, wiring, and power
supplies.

The system, ormultianalyzer, will serve as a high-speed data
logger and pulse height analyzer in work being performed at
the Pac ifi c Northwest Laboratory wh ich Batte II e operates for
the Atomic Energy Commission.

NEW SOLID-STATE TAPE TRANSPORT TYPE TU55

Included will be a PDP-7 computer, console teleprinter,
4096-word memory, analog-to-digital converter, osci Iloscope
display, and Dual DECtape transport and control built by
Digital Equipment Corporation. Battelle scientists and engineers are adding special purpose equipment to complete the
overall multianalyzer system.

COMPUTER OPTIONS
PDP-8 CONTROLS NEW SYSTEM
FOR COMMUNICATION SWITCHING

An economical new switching system, the Type 680 Data
Communication System controlled by a PDP-8, was introduced by DEC for use in communication systems and computation centers. It can function independently as a complete Iine scanning control, or it can serve as a peripheral
device to bunch inputs and outputs for most efficient use of
large central processors.
In the message switching function, the computer scans up to
1281 ines--sequentially or in a commanded order--accepting
incoming messages one bit at a time, assembl ing the bits into
characters, storing the characters, and routing them--again
one bit at a time--to their destinations.
The basic difference between the 680 and other systems is
in theirmethodsofbuffering characters. Other systems have
used active registers--fI ip-flops--for this function. The
680 System uses magnetic core registers in the memory of the
PDP-8. The 680 concept is basically more economical and
reliable and it offers greater flexibility the earlier systems
Jacked.
The reliability advantage results from using the core registers
in place of the active flip-flop registers, which are more
prone to fai lure. Since memory can be checked automatically
as part of the regular maintenance of the computer, potential
fai lures can be prevented.

A simple, solid-state magnetic tape drive for use with the
PDP-7 and PDP-8 computers has been developed by DEC.
The DECtape Type TU55 Transport has a reliability figure of
less than one transient error per 1010 characters.
The TU55 consists of two guides which float the tape over
the read-write head, dual direct-drive hubs, motors with integral electromagnetic brakes, solid-state circuits feeding
power to motors and brakes, and front-panel switches for
manual control and check-out.
As in earlier DECtape drive units, no pinch rollers, capstans, mechanical buffering, or vacuum columns are needed
to control tape motion. Tape tension is controlled electromagnetically.
The TU55 differs from earlier DECtape transports in two
major respects: replacement of relay control components by
solid-state devices, and elimination of one of the usual two
transports. The prime feature of the TU55 is its low cost in
comparison to other tape transports.
The new transport, like earlier models, is designed for use
with a control unit which segments computer words before
recording them and reassembles them when reading back to
the computer. The transport uses the same 4-in. reels containing 260 ft. of 3/4-in. Mylar sandwich tape. Recording
density is 350 ± 55 bpi, and read-record speed in either direction is 97 ± 14 ips. Total information capacity per reel
is 2.7 x 106 bits, arranged in duplexed 3-bit characters.
A principal application for the new transport is serving as
economical bulk storage of data and programs in small computer systems lacking disc, drum, or conventional magnetic
tape subsystems.

DECUSCOPE is published monthly for Digital Equipment
Computer Users Society (DECUS).
Material for publication should be sent to: Mrs. Angela
J. Cossette, DECUS, Maynard, Massachusetts 01754.
Publications Chairman: Joseph Lundy I Inforonics, Inc.
Circulation: 1,400 copies per month

NEW DECUS MEMBERS
PDP-l DELEGATE

PDP-8 DELEGATES (continued)

Richard W. Conn
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Livermore, Ca Iifom ia

Mr. Pellier
Center for Biocl imatic Studies
Strasbourg, France

PDP-5 DELEGATE

William F. Raub
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Donald R. Machen
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, Cal ifornia
PDP-6 DELEGATE
Anthony Yonda
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York
PDP-7 DELEGATES
J. R. Bird
A.A.E.C. Research Establishment
Sutherland, N SW Austral ia
Curtis W. Coleman
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Gerald A. Sabin
USN Underwater Sound Reference Lab
Orlando, Florida
Pierre Vauthieu
SINTRA
Asnieres (Seine), France
L1NC DELEGATES
C. Alan Boneau
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
Louis Siegel
Univ. of Rochester School of Medicine
Rochester, New York
340 DISPLAY DELEGATE

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS (continued)
Ed. J. J ung, Jr.
NASA
Houston, Texas
P.U. Ten Kate
Institute for Nuclear Physics Research
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Douglas A. Kent and
Jon Kiiskinen
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, Cal ifornia
Daniel Lee
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
PasadenaA' Cal ifornia
Philip Loe
Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland
John F. McNall
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Willian W. Norris
Un ited Aircraft Research Laboratories
East Hartford, Connecticut
David Ophir
Brookhaven Nationa I Laboratory
Upton, New York

N. P. Wilburn
Battel Ie-Northwest
Richland, Washington

George A. Bain
USN - Underwater Ordnance Station
Newport, Rhode Island

PDP-8 DELEGATES

I NDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

Jeremy D. Pollack
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey

Boyd R. Borri II
Brookhaven Nationa I Laboratory
Upton, New York

Frank Stubenitsky
University of California
Berkeley, California

D. W. Beard
Pi cker X-Ray Corporation
Cleveland, Ohio
R. L. Beddoes
Hilger & Watts Limited
London, N. W. 1, England
Milton Coli ins
Teradyne Incorporated
Boston, Massachusetts
Paul F. Doering
General Railway Signal Company
Rochester, New York
M. S. Elzas
Applied Dynam ics Europe
Rotterdam, Holland
D. Laurent
Laboratoire Chimie Organique Physique
Paris, France
Terrel L. M iedaner
University of Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
G. Oberski
Institute for Nuclear Physics Research
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Earl H. Brazea I, Jr.
United Aircraft Research Laboratories
East Hartford, Connecticut
Stewart C. Davis
US N - Underwater Ordnance Station
Newport, Rhode Island
Daniel J. Edwards
M.I. T. Project MAC
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Stanley Habib
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Holmdel, New Jersey
Anthony James Hance
Stanford University Medical School
Palo Alto, California
T. A. Henriquez
US N Underwater Sound Reference Lab.
Orlando, Florida

Thomas Taussig
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Berkeley, California
Joel Tenenbaum
Harvard Cyclotron Laboratory
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Norman E• Turner
Teradyne Incorporated
Boston, Massachusetts
I.C. Walker
AERE Harwell
Didcot, Berkshire, England
Peter S. Weiss
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, New York
Stacy E. Wise
Batte lie-Northwest
Richland, Washington
William S. Yamamoto
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania



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