IBM 1401 Symbolic Programming System
The IBM 1401 Symbolic Programming System (SPS) was an assembler that was developed by the Applied Programming Department of IBM as an alternative to the use of machine code for the IBM 1401 computer, the first of the IBM 1400 series. One source indicates that "This programming system was announced by IBM with the machine.".[1] As the 1400 series matured it acquired additional memory options (from the initial 4000, increasing to 16000 characters) and SPS was replaced by the "Autocoder" language in most installations.
Both Autocoder and SPS were assembly languages using mnemonics as a substitute for programming directly in machine language. A copy of the IBM 1401 Autocoder specifications including mnemonic operation codes is preserved at bitsavers.org.[2] A copy of the source programs for SPS-1, SPS-2 and Autocoder was donated to the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, by Gary Mokotoff author of SPS and coauthor of Autocoder.[3]
References
External links
- [1] IBM 1401 Symbolic Programming Systems: SPS-1 and SPS-2, C20-1480-0
- "1401s I have known" by Tom Van Vleck includes a description of an operating environment including both early, SPS, and later Autocoder 1401 machines.
- An Encyclopedia of Computer Languages article entitled "Autocoder III" preserves information from the 1961 announcement of Autocoder programming capabilities for the expanded, 4,000 positions of core memory, IBM 1401.
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