Abstract
To modern eyes, the programming conventions of the early Ferranti computers seem both primitive and complex, the complexity arising from the fact that coding was based on the 5-bit teleprinter characters. Users were expected to learn the 5-digit binary equivalents by heart, with the added complication that ‘backwards binary’ was employed with the least-significant digit at the left-hand end so as to be compatible with the engineer’s serial waveforms where time flowed from left to right. All this, and much more, is explained in this chapter—to the point where the bold reader can write a small program. The bootstrapping, routine-calling and monitoring processes are also described, along with the scheme for memory management, the integration of the small but fast primary store with the slower but larger magnetic drum secondary store. We detail the differences between the instruction sets for the Mark I and for the Mark I*—the latter being much easier to use.
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Notes
- 1.
Digital Computer—notes on design and operation. This is a quarto-sized laboratory notebook kept by G. C. Tootill whilst working with F. C. Williams and Tom Kilburn at Manchester University. The first entry is dated 4th June 1948 and the last is 28th November 1948. See National Archive for the History of Computing, document NAHC/MUC/2/C3.
- 2.
Programmers’ handbook for Manchester Electronic Computer Mark II. Anon and undated, but known to have been written by Alan Turing and issued in March 1951. 110-page typed foolscap manual. (The qualification ‘Mark II’ was used by Turing to distinguish this computer from its research predecessor at the University of Manchester. The nomenclature ‘Mark II’ refers to the production version which was later called the Ferranti Mark I computer). Two sets of Errata sheets were issued, probably by Cicely Popplewell according to Dai Edwards, respectively on 13th and 28th March 1951. A second edition of the manual was issued by Tony Brooker in October 1952. Subsequent editions followed: a third was issued in September 1953 and a supplement to this in January 1956. A transcription of Turing’s first edition, with helpful comments, is available at: http://curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk/computer50/www.computer50.org/kgill/mark1/progman.html
- 3.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin. 1980. Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester. Annals of the History of Computing 2 (2): 130–168.
- 4.
Tootill, G.C. 1949. Informal Report on the Design of the Ferranti Mark I Computing Machine. Approximately 30 typed pages plus diagrams. See NAHC/MUC/C4. The report includes a two-page Appendix on a possible circuit for generating random numbers, written by Alan Turing.
- 5.
Tootill, G.C., Informal Report on the Design of the Ferranti Mark I Computing Machine.
- 6.
Donald Horwood worked at GCHQ Eastcote after the end of the war on the development of a random number generator and high-speed checker. The relevant correspondence with SHL is in the Bodleian Library and is described at K4 in this catalogue: http://www.ourcomputerheritage.org/CatK.pdf. It is believed that many Donald Duck units were produced, for use with one-time pads. Interestingly, GCHQ advised the Department of National Savings on ERNIE and the original ERNIE random-number hardware was based on Donald Duck.
- 7.
In Campbell-Kelly (1980) is an anecdote about deliberate mis-adjustment for demonstration purposes. Also Anthony Ralston , later to become Director of the Computing Centre and Professor of Mathematics the State University of New York at Buffalo, spent seven weeks during the summer of 1953 as an MIT vacation student at Ferranti Moston. His task was to test the random number generator. In an e-mail to Simon Lavington dated 27th October 2015, Olaf Chedzoy remembers that Ralston “discovered that there was a small but noticeable bias towards the production of ‘1’s. However, he also discovered that this could be overcome by using a ‘not equivalent’ function on two random numbers, and the result was then unbiased”. Tony Ralston’s paper giving the mathematical background is: Ralston, Anthony. 1980. Random Number Generation on the Ferranti Mark I. Annals of the History of Computing 2: 270–271.
- 8.
Sumner, F.H.(Frank). 1994. Memories of the Manchester Mark I. Resurrection 10: 9–13. This anecdote probably refers to the period from 1954 onwards, when the Ferranti Mark I had been moved to the new Electrical Engineering Department in Dover Street.
- 9.
Programmers’ handbook for Manchester Electronic Computer Mark II. Anon and undated, but known to have been written by Alan Turing and issued in March 1951. 110-page typed foolscap manual. (The qualification ‘Mark II’ was used by Turing to distinguish this computer from its research predecessor at the University of Manchester. The nomenclature ‘Mark II’ refers to the production version which was later called the Ferranti Mark I computer). Two sets of Errata sheets were issued, probably by Cicely Popplewell according to Dai Edwards, respectively on 13th and 28th March 1951. A second edition of the manual was issued by Tony Brooker in October 1952. Subsequent editions followed: a third was issued in September 1953 and a supplement to this in January 1956. A transcription of Turing’s first edition, with helpful comments, is available at: http://curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk/computer50/www.computer50.org/kgill/mark1/progman.html.
- 10.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin., Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester.
- 11.
E-mail dated 11th November 2015 to Simon Lavington from Joan Travis (neé Kaye), who worked for Ferranti Moston.
- 12.
Mary Lee Berners-Lee: An Interview Conducted by Janet Abbate for the IEEE History Center, 12 September 2001. Interview #578 for the IEEE History Center, The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. See: https://ethw.org/Oral-History:Mary_Lee_Berners-Lee#About_Mary_Lee_Berners-Lee.
- 13.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin., Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester.
- 14.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin., Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester.
- 15.
Gotlieb, Calvin C. 1954. The Cost of Programming and Coding. Computers and Automation 25: 14 ff.
- 16.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin., Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester.
- 17.
Bennett, J.M., D.G. Prinz, and M.L. Woods. 1952. Interpretative Sub-routines. In Proceedings of ACM National Conference, 81–87, Toronto, Sept. 1952.
- 18.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin., Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester.
- 19.
Brooker, R.A. 1955. An Attempt to Simplify Coding for the Manchester Electronic Computer. British Journal of Applied Physics 6: 307–311.
- 20.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin., Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester.
- 21.
A Radix 32 input and organisation scheme for Ferranti Mk I* digital computer. Technical note (no number) from Ferranti Ltd. Moston. Foolscap typed manual, 37 pages. Undated but deduce about 1953 since “a number of modifications have been included at programmer’s requests since the original version was produced a few months ago, and consequently it is believed that this final version has eliminated many of the disadvantages which have been hitherto inherent in the various Input Routines”.
- 22.
Berry, F.J. 1959. Intercode, A Simplified Coding Scheme for AMOS. Computer Journal 2 (2): 55–58.
- 23.
Berry, F.J., Intercode, A Simplified Coding Scheme for AMOS.
- 24.
- 25.
Gawlik, H.J., MIRFAC: A Compiler Based on Standard Mathematical Notation and Plain English. See also: Gawlik, H.J., and F.J. Berry., Programming in MIRFAC.
- 26.
INTINT programmazione indiretta per calcolatrici elettroniche. Manuali per le Applicazioni Tecniche del Calcolo, Vol. 3, Cremonese, Roma (1958).
- 27.
Tabular Interpretive Programme. Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd., Filton, Bristol. June 1961. 8-page printed manual, approx.. A4 size, bound in buff card. Tabular Interpretive Programme, TIP, was devised by the Mathematical Services group of Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd. in 1957. TIP3, to which this manual refers, was completed in August 1960.
- 28.
Tabular Interpretive Programme. Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd., Filton, Bristol. June 1961. 8-page printed manual, approx. A4 size, bound in buff card. Tabular Interpretive Programme, TIP, was devised by the Mathematical Services group of Bristol Siddeley Engines Ltd. in 1957. TIP3, to which this manual refers, was completed in August 1960.
References
Bennett, J.M., D.G. Prinz, and M.L. Woods. 1952. Interpretative Sub-routines. In Proceedings of ACM National Conference, 81–87, Toronto, Sept 1952.
Berry, F.J. 1959. Intercode, A Simplified Coding Scheme for AMOS. Computer Journal 2 (2): 55–58.
Brooker, R.A. 1955. An Attempt to Simplify Coding for the Manchester Electronic Computer. British Journal of Applied Physics 6: 307–311.
Campbell-Kelly, Martin. 1980. Programming the Mark I: Early Programming Activity at the University of Manchester. Annals of the History of Computing 2 (2): 130–168.
Gawlik, H.J. 1963. MIRFAC: A Compiler Based on Standard Mathematical Notation and Plain English. Communication of ACM 6 (9): 545–547.
Gawlik, H.J., and F.J. Berry. 1967. Programming in MIRFAC. 2nd ed.
Gotlieb, Calvin C. 1954. The Cost of Programming and Coding. Computers and Automation 25: 14 ff.
Ralston, Anthony. 1980. Random Number Generation on the Ferranti Mark I. Annals of the History of Computing 2: 270–271.
Sumner, F.H.(Frank). 1994. Memories of the Manchester Mark I. Resurrection 10: 9–13.
Tootill, G.C. 1949. Informal Report on the Design of the Ferranti Mark I Computing Machine.
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Lavington, S. (2019). Appendix B. Mark I and Mark I* Software Details. In: Early Computing in Britain. History of Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15103-4_15
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