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Machine Code Programming and Logic

  • Chapter
A Science of Operations

Part of the book series: History of Computing ((HC))

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Abstract

The task of programming an automatic calculator or computer, usually referred to as ’coding’, was understood to be that of specifying the sequence of operations that the machine would carry out in the course of a computation. Many different order codes were possible for stored-program machines, and it was only through practical experience that the features of a successful code could be identified. By 1950, however, broad agreement had been reached about the features that a successful and usable code should provide, and Maurice Wilkes and his colleagues in Cambridge published a book describing the programming system that they had devised for the EDSAC. The first half of this chapter describes the key features of their approach, with an emphasis on the process of experimentation and consideration of alternatives that preceded their acceptance. The second half of the chapter considers some more logical and philosophical aspects of this programming style.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Burks et al. (1946), p. 100.

  2. 2.

    Turing (1946), p. 43.

  3. 3.

    Wilkes et al. (1951), preface.

  4. 4.

    Aiken (1937).

  5. 5.

    Aiken and Hopper (1946), p. 386.

  6. 6.

    Burks (1947), p. 756.

  7. 7.

    Aiken and Hopper (1946), p. 449.

  8. 8.

    Bloch (1999), p. 87.

  9. 9.

    Goldstine and Goldstine (1946). See Chap. 5 for more discussion.

  10. 10.

    Eckert (1946), p. 114.

  11. 11.

    Alt (1948a).

  12. 12.

    von Neumann (1945), Sects. 5.6–5.7.

  13. 13.

    Marcus and Akera (1996), p. 23.

  14. 14.

    Burks et al. (1946).

  15. 15.

    Mauchly (1947), pp. 204–205.

  16. 16.

    Ceruzzi (1997).

  17. 17.

    Bloch et al. (1948).

  18. 18.

    Mauchly (1947), p. 204.

  19. 19.

    Aiken and Hopper (1946), p. 528.

  20. 20.

    Aiken (1946), p. 156.

  21. 21.

    Goldstine and Goldstine (1946).

  22. 22.

    Bloch (1947).

  23. 23.

    Eckert (1946), p. 116.

  24. 24.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 15.

  25. 25.

    Aiken and Hopper (1946).

  26. 26.

    Marcus and Akera (1996).

  27. 27.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 11.3.

  28. 28.

    Turing (1946), p. 35.

  29. 29.

    Eckert (1946), p. 122.

  30. 30.

    Burks et al. (1946).

  31. 31.

    Alt (1948a), pp. 72–73.

  32. 32.

    Carpenter and Doran (1977), p. 271.

  33. 33.

    Campbell-Kelly and Williams (1985), p. 108.

  34. 34.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 12.2.

  35. 35.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 15.1.

  36. 36.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 15.3.

  37. 37.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 15.6.

  38. 38.

    Turing (1946), pp. 24, 25.

  39. 39.

    Mauchly (1946), p. 455.

  40. 40.

    Mooers (1946), p. 470.

  41. 41.

    Eckert (1946), p. 122.

  42. 42.

    Burks et al. (1946), p. 98.

  43. 43.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1947), p. 153.

  44. 44.

    See for example Bloch et al. (1948), p. 293, and Bowden (1953), p. 29.

  45. 45.

    Williams (1951), p. 176.

  46. 46.

    Wheeler (1950).

  47. 47.

    Turing (1946), p. 34.

  48. 48.

    Turing (1946), p. 35.

  49. 49.

    Turing (1946), p. 38.

  50. 50.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1948).

  51. 51.

    Wheeler (1950).

  52. 52.

    Wilkes et al. (1951).

  53. 53.

    Campbell-Kelly and Williams (1985), p. 452.

  54. 54.

    Mooers (1946).

  55. 55.

    Turing (1946), p. 35.

  56. 56.

    Turing (1947), p. 117.

  57. 57.

    Turing (1947), p. 118.

  58. 58.

    Turing (1947), p. 122.

  59. 59.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1947), p. 154.

  60. 60.

    Bloch et al. (1948).

  61. 61.

    Bowden (1953), p. 17.

  62. 62.

    von Neumann (1945), p. 2.

  63. 63.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1947), p. 113.

  64. 64.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1947), p. 115.

  65. 65.

    Berkeley (1950).

  66. 66.

    Carnap (1937).

  67. 67.

    Giloi (1997), p. 18.

  68. 68.

    Bauer (2000), p. 278.

  69. 69.

    See Turing (1949) for an early example of program proving.

  70. 70.

    Wilkes et al. (1951), p. 3.

  71. 71.

    Booth (1949).

  72. 72.

    Huskey (1951).

  73. 73.

    von Neumann (1945), Sect. 15.6.

  74. 74.

    Turing (1946), Sect. 13.

  75. 75.

    Wheeler (1950).

  76. 76.

    Elgot (1954).

  77. 77.

    Patterson (1949).

  78. 78.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1947), p. 154.

  79. 79.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1947), p. 84.

  80. 80.

    Goldstine and von Neumann (1947), p. 91.

  81. 81.

    Turing (1949).

  82. 82.

    Aspray and Burks (1987).

  83. 83.

    Renwick (1949).

  84. 84.

    Aspray and Burks (1987), pp. 384–385.

  85. 85.

    Carnap (1937).

  86. 86.

    Wheeler (1950).

  87. 87.

    Wilkes et al. (1951).

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Priestley, M. (2011). Machine Code Programming and Logic. In: A Science of Operations. History of Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-555-0_7

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