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Cyhist Jan 23 1997 R
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Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 12:03:06 -0800
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
From: Bill Selmeier <bills@aimnet.com>
Subject: Ancient/Dead Computer Languages Site ?
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Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
I programmed in MAD and ran it on a IBM 7090 computer as a Junior at Michigan in 1963. I think it was the primary language students used at Michigan at the time. Those were the days when you made your mark by developing your own language. The mid-60's seem to see a flood of languages generally justified as able to meet some special purpose.
I left U of M in '65 and went to Procter & Gamble where we had a IBM 7080 and used an internally developed language called MATRAN (Matrix Translator). MATRAN had many matrix minipulation tools and although the original thought was that Operations Research problems needed to be able to do large two and three dimensional matrix minipulations, it was soon realized a main benefit was in report preparation. In the mid '60s we produced over 300 pages of market analysis monthly for the Package Detergent Divsion each month and corresponding amount for each other product grouping. This lesson of how to layout reports quickly, of course, has been re-learned by everyone that uses a spreadsheet to lay out presentations and reports. :)
You can thank MATRAN for some of those obscure matrix commands in PL/1 since P&G sat on the advisory board for the PL/1 specification. Did we get the Eignevalue command in there???? \{;^)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 97 00:02:40 -0500
From: David Federman <David.Federman@worldnet.att.net> To: davidsol@panix.com
Subject: Ancient/Dead Computer Languages Site ?
Re: MAD computer language
I remember MAD as standing for Michigan Algorithmic Decoder, a language that was taught at CCNY (among other places) in the late 60's. It was meant to be an easy-to-pick-up language (the BASIC of its time) and seems to me to have been a diluted version of FORTRAN. It did not last very long, although I left that school in 1970, I heard it was soon replaced with FORTRAN. I never heard of it again, except in reminiscing with old classmates.
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
From: Bill Selmeier <bills@aimnet.com>
Subject: Ancient/Dead Computer Languages Site ?
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
I programmed in MAD and ran it on a IBM 7090 computer as a Junior at Michigan in 1963. I think it was the primary language students used at Michigan at the time. Those were the days when you made your mark by developing your own language. The mid-60's seem to see a flood of languages generally justified as able to meet some special purpose.
I left U of M in '65 and went to Procter & Gamble where we had a IBM 7080 and used an internally developed language called MATRAN (Matrix Translator). MATRAN had many matrix minipulation tools and although the original thought was that Operations Research problems needed to be able to do large two and three dimensional matrix minipulations, it was soon realized a main benefit was in report preparation. In the mid '60s we produced over 300 pages of market analysis monthly for the Package Detergent Divsion each month and corresponding amount for each other product grouping. This lesson of how to layout reports quickly, of course, has been re-learned by everyone that uses a spreadsheet to lay out presentations and reports. :)
You can thank MATRAN for some of those obscure matrix commands in PL/1 since P&G sat on the advisory board for the PL/1 specification. Did we get the Eignevalue command in there???? \{;^)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 97 00:02:40 -0500
From: David Federman <David.Federman@worldnet.att.net> To: davidsol@panix.com
Subject: Ancient/Dead Computer Languages Site ?
Re: MAD computer language
I remember MAD as standing for Michigan Algorithmic Decoder, a language that was taught at CCNY (among other places) in the late 60's. It was meant to be an easy-to-pick-up language (the BASIC of its time) and seems to me to have been a diluted version of FORTRAN. It did not last very long, although I left that school in 1970, I heard it was soon replaced with FORTRAN. I never heard of it again, except in reminiscing with old classmates.
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