Over the past few weeks I have been playing with the COBOL, FORTRAN and
RPG compilers that are present on the IBM 1410 PR108 Processor Operating
system tape, available at:
http://piercefuller.com/library/kau1401s.html (it is really 1410) and
https://sky-visions.com/ibm/ibm7010_soft.shtml (For use under SimH)
FORTRAN: While the compiler seems to function, this is probably a "lost
cause" as we have neither the FORTRAN library, nor the relocatable
loader required - those were shipped by IBM on a separate tape. Getting
around this would require reproducing both.
COBOL: It is not usable in its current state, but maybe not a totally
lost cause. It requires some macros (notably "MOVE=" for any MOVE
statements) and Subroutines accessed via Autocoder CALL (for example, to
use the DISPLAY verb.) I have no current plans to do such work. One
would have to code some programs, see what got generated, and then
create (or modify ones that had been started earlier) macros to support
the result. It would take a lot of work, but not impossibly much.
The relevant early IBM COBOL General Information manual is now available
on bitsavers at
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/generalInfo/F28-8053-2_COBOL_General_Information_1961.pdf
I have a copy of the relevant IBM 1410 compiler supplement, manual
number C28-0330, but it is on Fiche and portions are not very good images.
RPG 1410-RG-910-43: This turned into an "ugly duckling" of sorts. We
have only the sparse information provided in the PR-134 Processor
Operating System manual, C28-0287-1 (available on bitsavers). HOWEVER,
as luck and history would have it, it turned out that this RPG is based
on an extremely similar to one of the early 1401 RPG "compilers" for
which a manual *is* available, J24-0215-2. [I discovered this by looking
at the 1410 bibliography, find the form numbers for the coding forms for
1410 RPG, and searching for those, and getting hits on the 1401 manual,
above.) With that information, along with a little bit of disassembly
to figure out most of what goes into the PR-108 "RG" control card it
uses, I was able to put together a couple of sample programs, and kept
some notes as well as a partial disassembly of Phase RPG1.
This might be the earliest RPG available anywhere - I haven't seen a
1401 RPG tape image anywhere to date, though maybe someone has one I am
not aware of.
Also, since it generates Autocoder, it might not be impossibly difficult
to port one of the samples back to the 1401 - the logic implemented in
the 1410 RPG generated Autocoder appears very very similar to that
described in the 1401 manual.
The materials I put together relating to the IBM 1410 RPG "compiler" are
now available in a zip file at (feel free to copy)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RXtSCW0EpBYQqb_EY_iqnLUqt4btYWVt?usp=sharing
JRJ
