On 22 Mar 2007 at 0:17, Tony Duell wrote:
Did any computer built after 1960 NOT have a FORTRAN
implementation?
Yes, my ICT1301 (155+ built from 1962 to 1965) had no Fortran compiler.
I've not seen a Fortran compiler for any of the following :
HP9830 (I claim this is a computer, it ran BASIC from ROM)
Philips P850 (maximum 2K words of core, I believe larger P800 series
machines did have a Fortran compiler available)
HP9825, 9831, 9845, 9835 series
HP80 series.
Just about all the pocekt computers (Sharp, Casio, HP, etc)
What abotu the IBM 5100? And for that matter the Commodore PET (I know
the SuperPET had such a compiler), the C64, etc. And the Sinclair/Amstrad
machines (ZX*0, ZX81, Spectrums). And the Oric
How many of the above would run *any* type of compile-to-machine-
language HLL compiler? Most of the BASICs were tokenized and
interpreted.
A few of those that you've cited simply didn't have the resources for
it.
But maybe not--even the lowly IBM 1620 with 20K digits (not bytes--a
character took 2 digits) of core and no disk drive would compile
FORTRAN. That's pretty remarkable when you consider that a 1620
instruction is 12 digits long--and the bottom half-K or so was
dedicated to storing arithmetic lookup tables (the 1620 Cadet
couldn't even add two numbers without the tables first being loaded).
The card reader-punch was used as intermediate storage--you read in
pass 1 of the compiler, then your program, which caused a new card to
be punched for every statement. You then read in the deck for pass
2, followed by your program and an executable object deck was punched
(and a listing was made on the printer). AFAIK, the Cadet equipped
with paper tape instead of cards could do the same thing.
Cheers,
Chuck