STRETCH Assembly Program

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STRETCH Assembly Program (STRAP) was the assembler for the IBM 7030 Stretch computer. The first version (STRAP-1) was a subset cross assembler that ran on the IBM 704, IBM 709, and IBM 7090 computers. The final version (STRAP-2) ran natively.

IBM 7030 Stretch first IBM supercomputer using dedicated transistors

The IBM 7030, also known as Stretch, was IBM's first transistorized supercomputer. It was the fastest computer in the world from 1961 until the first CDC 6600 became operational in 1964.

IBM 704 computer

The IBM 704, introduced by IBM in 1954, is the first mass-produced computer with floating-point arithmetic hardware. The IBM 704 Manual of operation states:

The type 704 Electronic Data-Processing Machine is a large-scale, high-speed electronic calculator controlled by an internally stored program of the single address type.

IBM 709

The IBM 709 was a computer system, initially announced by IBM in January 1957 and first installed during August 1958. The 709 was an improved version of its predecessor, the IBM 704, and was the second iteration of the IBM 700/7000 series of scientific computers. The improvements included overlapped input/output, indirect addressing, and three "convert" instructions which provided support for decimal arithmetic, leading zero suppression, and several other operations. The 709 had 32,768 words of 36-bit magnetic core memory and could execute 42,000 add or subtract instructions per second. It could multiply two 36-bit integers at a rate of 5000 per second.


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MAD is a programming language and compiler for the IBM 704 and later the IBM 709, IBM 7090, IBM 7040, UNIVAC 1107, UNIVAC 1108, Philco 210-211, and eventually the IBM S/370 mainframe computers. Developed in 1959 at the University of Michigan by Bernard Galler, Bruce Arden and Robert M. Graham, MAD is a variant of the ALGOL language. It was widely used to teach programming at colleges and universities during the 1960s and played a minor role in the development of CTSS, Multics, and the Michigan Terminal System computer operating systems.

IBM 7090 Second generation (c. 1959) scientific mainframe

The IBM 7090 is a second-generation transistorized version of the earlier IBM 709 vacuum tube mainframe computer that was designed for "large-scale scientific and technological applications". The 7090 is the third member of the IBM 700/7000 series scientific computers. The first 7090 installation was in November 1959. In 1960, a typical system sold for $2.9 million or could be rented for $63,500 a month.

IBM 700/7000 series series of mainframe computer systems that were made by IBM through the 1950s and early 1960s

The IBM 700/7000 series is a series of large-scale (mainframe) computer systems that were made by IBM through the 1950s and early 1960s. The series includes several different, incompatible processor architectures. The 700s use vacuum tube logic and were made obsolete by the introduction of the transistorized 7000s. The 7000s, in turn, were eventually replaced with System/360, which was announced in 1964. However the 360/65, the first 360 powerful enough to replace 7000s, did not become available until November 1965. Early problems with OS/360 and the high cost of converting software kept many 7000s in service for years afterward.

The Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), was one of the first time-sharing operating systems; it was developed at the MIT Computation Center. CTSS was first demonstrated in 1961 and was operated at MIT until 1973. During part of this time, MIT's influential Project MAC also ran CTSS, but the system did not spread beyond these two sites.

The University of Michigan Executive System, or UMES, a batch operating system developed at the University of Michigan in 1958, was widely used at many universities. Based on the General Motors Executive System for the IBM 701, UMES was revised to work on the mainframe computers in use at the University of Michigan during this time and to work better for the small student jobs that were expected to be the primary work load at the University.

IBSYS is the discontinued tape-based operating system that IBM supplied with its IBM 7090 and IBM 7094 computers. A similar operating system, also called IBSYS, was provided with IBM 7040 and IBM 7044 computers. IBSYS was based on FORTRAN Monitor System (FMS) and SHARE Operating System.

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Alick Edwards Glennie (1925–2003) was a British computer scientist, most famous for having developed Autocode, which many people regard as the first ever computer compiler.

SHARE (computing) user group for IBM mainframe computing

SHARE Inc. is a volunteer-run user group for IBM mainframe computers that was founded in 1955 by Los Angeles-area users of the IBM 701 computer system. It evolved into a forum for exchanging technical information about programming languages, operating systems, database systems, and user experiences for enterprise users of small, medium, and large-scale IBM computers such as IBM S/360, IBM S/370, zSeries, pSeries, and xSeries. Despite the capitalization of all letters in the name, the official website says "SHARE is not an acronym; it's what we do."

Computer programming in the punched card era

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A strap is a ribbon used to fasten.

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A computer punched card reader or just computer card reader is a computer input device used to read computer programs in either source or executable form and data from punched cards. A computer card punch is a computer output device that punches holes in cards. Sometimes computer punch card readers were combined with computer card punches and, later, other devices to form multifunction machines. It is a input device and also an output device. Most early computers, such as the ENIAC, and the IBM NORC, provided for punched card input/output. Card readers and punches, either connected to computers or in off-line card to/from magnetic tape configurations, were ubiquitous through the mid-1970s.

BCD, also called alphanumeric BCD, alphameric BCD, BCD Interchange Code, or BCDIC, is a family of representations of numerals, uppercase Latin letters, and some special and control characters as six-bit character codes.

IBM 711

The IBM 711 was a punched card reader used as a peripheral device for IBM mainframe vacuum tube computers and early transistorized computers. Announced on May 21, 1952, it was first sold with the IBM 701. Later IBM computers that used it were the IBM 704, the IBM 709, and the transistorized IBM 7090 and 7094.