MATH-MATIC
| Paradigm | imperative |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Remington Rand |
| First appeared | 1957 |
| Platform | UNIVAC I, UNIVAC II |
| Influenced by | |
| FLOW-MATIC | |
| Influenced | |
| UNICODE (programming language) | |
MATH-MATIC is the marketing name for the AT-3 (Algebraic Translator 3) compiler, an early programming language for the UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II.
MATH-MATIC was written beginning around 1955 by a team led by Charles Katz under the direction of Grace Hopper. A preliminary manual[1] was produced in 1957 and a final manual[2] the following year.
Syntactically, MATH-MATIC was similar to Univac's contemporaneous business-oriented language, FLOW-MATIC, differing in providing algebraic-style expressions and floating-point arithmetic, and arrays rather than record structures.
Notable features
Expressions in MATH-MATIC could contain numeric exponents, including decimals and fractions, by way of a custom typewriter.[3]
MATH-MATIC programs could include inline assembler sections of ARITH-MATIC code and UNIVAC machine code.[4]
The UNIVAC I had only 1000 words of memory, and the successor UNIVAC II as little as 2000. MATH-MATIC allowed for larger programs, automatically generating code to read overlay segments from UNISERVO tape as required. The compiler attempted to avoid splitting loops across segments.[5]
Influence
In proposing the collaboration with the ACM that led to ALGOL 58, the Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik wrote that it considered MATH-MATIC the closest available language to its own proposal.[6]
In contrast to Backus' FORTRAN, MATH-MATIC did not emphasise execution speed of compiled programs. The UNIVAC machines did not have floating-point hardware, and MATH-MATIC was translated via A-3 (ARITH-MATIC) pseudo-assembler code rather than directly to UNIVAC machine code, limiting its usefulness. [7]
MATH-MATIC Sample program
A sample MATH-MATIC program:[8]
(2) TYPE-IN ALPHA .
(2A) READ A B C SERVO 4 STORAGE A IF SENTINEL JUMP TO SENTENCE 8 .
(3) READ D F SERVO 5 .
(4) VARY Y 1 (0.1) 3 SENTENCE 5 THRU 6 .
(5) X1 = (7*103*Y*A*SIN ALPHA)3 / (B POW D+C POW E) .
(6) WRITE AND EDIT A Y D E X1 SERVO 6 .
(7) JUMP TO SENTENCE 2A .
(8) CLOSE-INPUT AND REWIND SENTENCE 3 .
(9) CLOSE-OUTPUT SENTENCE 6 .
(10) READ F G H N SERVO 4 STORAGE A IF SENTINEL JUMP TO SENTENCE 20 .
(11) EXECUTE SENTENCE 3 .
(12) X2 = (3 ROOT (E-G)+LOG (D+N)) / (F2.6*EXP H) .
(13) WRITE EDIT F D F X2 SERVO 6 .
(16) JUMP TO SENTENCE 10 .
(20) STOP .
Notes
References
- Ash, R.; Broadwin, E.; Della Valle, V.; Greene, M.; Jenny, A.; Katz, C.; Yu, L. (1957-04-19). Preliminary Manual for MATH-MATIC and ARITH-MATIC Systems for ALGEBRAIC TRANSLATION and COMPILATION for UNIVAC I and II (PDF) (Technical report). Philadelphia: Remington Rand Univac. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
- Bemer, Robert W. (1969), A Politico-Social History of Algol (With a Chronology in the Form of a Log Book) (PDF), retrieved 2016-03-20
- Knuth, Donald; Trabb Pardo, Luis (August 1976). The Early Development of Programming Languages (Technical report). Computer Science Department, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
- Sammet, Jean (1969). Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals. Prentice-Hall. pp. 132,135–137. ISBN 978-0-13-729988-1.
- Univac MATH-MATIC Programming System (PDF) (Technical report). Remington Rand Univac. 1958. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
- "MATH-MATIC — Mathematically oriented autocode (Computer Language)". Online Historical Encyclopaedia of Programming Languages. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
- "UNICODE — UNIVAC hybrid of FORTRAN and MATH-MATIC". Online Historical Encyclopaedia of Programming Languages. Retrieved 2016-03-20.