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{{Short description|Computer assembler}}
{{about|the IBM Autocoder assemblers|the generic term used in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s for a family of "simplified coding systems"|Autocode}}▼
{{Distinguish|Autoencoder}}
'''Autocoder''' is the name of a group of [[assembly language|assembler]]s for a number of [[IBM]] [[computer]]s of the 1950s and 1960s.▼
▲{{
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020|cs1-dates=y}}
▲'''Autocoder''' is
The first Autocoders appear to have been the earliest assemblers to provide a [[Macro (computer science)|macro]] facility.<ref>Solomon 1993, p. 8.</ref>
==Terminology==
Both ''autocoder'', and the unrelated ''[[autocode]]'', a term of the same era used in the [[UK]] for languages of a higher level, derive from the phrase ''[[automatic programming|automatic coding]]''. This referred generally to programs which eased the burden of producing the numeric [[machine language]] codes of programs.<ref>Hopper 1955.</ref>
==History==
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/705/22-6726-1_autocoder_Feb57.pdf
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| publisher = IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0309-1_1410_autocoder.pdf
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| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0326-2_1410_OS_Autocoder.pdf
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| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6102-1_7070_Four_Tape_Autocoder_Apr61.pdf
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<ref>{{cite manual
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6121-0_7070autocoder_61.pdf
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[[IBM 7080]],
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
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and the [[IBM 1400 series]].<ref>7010: Weik 1964, p. 0160; 7030:{{cite web
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| url = http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61-ibm7070.html
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}}; 7080: [http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/052/ibmsj0502B.pdf]; 1400 series: [https://web.archive.org/web/20100820215557/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/dpd50/dpd50_chronology2.html], {{cite book
| title = 1410 Autocoder
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0309-1_1410_autocoder.pdf
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}}.
</ref>
</ref> Other manufacturers sometimes built competing products, such as [[NCR Corporation|NCR]]'s "National's Electronic Autocoder Technique" (NEAT).<ref>Weik 1964, p. 0202.</ref>▼
The Pennsylvania State University developed a "Dual Autocoder Fortran Translator" (DAFT) compiler for the IBM 7074 in the 1960s which made it extremely easy to write (within a single program) lines of autocoder instructions freely interspersed with lines of Fortran code. This allowed symbolic machine instruction level coding within a higher level Fortran program, which was especially useful for optimizing the speed of inner loops, or for making use of the IBM 7074's unusual decimal word architecture.{{cn|date=August 2019}}▼
==Autocoder as implemented on the IBM 1401==
[[Symbolic Programming System]]<ref>{{cite manual
| title = IBM 1401 SYMBOLIC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM: PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS
| publisher = IBM
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/J28-200-1_IBM_1401_Symbolic_Programming_System_Preliminary_Specifications_Jan60.pdf
}}
</ref> (SPS), was the assembler offered when IBM originally announced [[IBM 1401|1401]] as a punched-card-only computer. SPS had different mnemonics and a different fixed input format from Autocoder. It lacked Autocoder's features and was generally used later only on machines that lacked tape drives, that is, punched-card only.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thelen |first1=Ed |title=IBM-1401 |url=http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/ibm-1401.html |accessdate=Mar 5, 2020}}</ref><ref name=THVV>{{cite web |last1=Van Vleck |first1=Tom |title=1401s I have known |url=https://www.multicians.org/thvv/1401s.html |website=multicians.org |accessdate=Mar 5, 2020}}</ref>
[[File:IBM 1401 AUTOCODER programm select and print.jpg|thumb|Autocoder coding sheet]]
| title = Autocoder (on Tape) Language Specifications and Operating Procedures IBM 1401 and 1460 Program 1401-AU-037
| series = IBM Systems Reference Library
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/C24-3319-0_Autocoder_on_Tape_Laguage_Specifications_and_Operating_Procedures_Nov64.pdf
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| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/C24-3258-2_Disk_Autocoder_Specifications_Apr66.pdf
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</ref> is the most well known Autocoder, undoubtedly due in part to the general success of that series of machines. Autocoder was the primary language of this computer, and its macro capabilities facilitated use of the [[Input/Output Control System]] which eased the programming burden.
<ref>{{cite book |last1=IBM Corporation |title=Executive Guide to the IBM 1440 Data Processing System |url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/IBM/IBM.1440.1962.102646251.pdf |accessdate=Mar 8, 2020}}</ref><ref>Solomon 1993, p. 8</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage2.prx?exp%3D3872 |title=The Encyclopedia of Computer Languages |accessdate=2007-03-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070917100201/http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage2.prx?exp=3872 |archivedate=2007-09-17 }}.</ref> Autocoder also had the ability to process code written for SPS.
The 1401 was available in six memory configurations, with 1400, 2000, 4000, 8000, 12000, or 16000 six-bit characters. The 8000-character model was the minimum needed to run the full Autocoder assembler application, including IOCS. However a language subset assembler was available for use with as little as 1400 memory positions. A loadable [[object file]], on punched cards or magnetic tape, could be produced on an 8000-character model which could then be run on a 4000-character machine. The limited language subset only processed punched cards and required 4 passes with intermediate punched card outputs.
==Influence==
▲
▲The Pennsylvania State University developed a "Dual Autocoder Fortran Translator" (DAFT) compiler for the IBM 7074 in the 1960s which made it extremely easy to write (within a single program) lines of autocoder instructions freely interspersed with lines of Fortran code.
[[Bell Laboratories]] developed a program called "Peripheral Equipment Symbolic Translator" (PEST), which was a 1401 cross-assembler that ran on the [[IBM 709|709]]/[[IBM 700/7000 series#Later scientific architecture (704/709/7090/7094)|709x]] and accepted a subset of 1401 Autocoder.<ref name=THVV /><ref>{{cite book |last1=IBM Corporation |title=Catalog of Programs for IBM Data Processing Systems KWIC Index |date=1962 |page=248 |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/pgmCatalog/C20-8090_Catalog_of_Programs_for_IBM_Data_Processing_Systems_KWIC_Index_Apr62.pdf |accessdate=Mar 5, 2020}}</ref>
A copy of the source programs for SPS-1, SPS-2 and Autocoder was donated to the [[Charles Babbage Institute]], [[University of Minnesota]] in 1985, by [[Gary Mokotoff]], author of SPS and coauthor of Autocoder.<ref>{{Citation|title=Gary Mokotoff Collection of IBM 1401 Program Listings, 1959-1961|url=https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/3/resources/231}}</ref>
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
* Allen, F. E., "The history of language processor technology at IBM", ''IBM Journal of Research and Development,'' '''25'''(5), pp.
* Goldfinger, Roy, "The IBM Type 705 Autocoder". ''Proceedings East Joint Computer Conf.,'' San Francisco, 1956.
* Hopper, Grace, "Automatic Coding for Digital Computers" in the High Speed Computer Conference, Louisiana
* {{cite book |author-first=David |author-last=Salomon |editor-first=Ian D. |editor-last=Chivers |title=Assemblers and Loaders |date=February 1993 |edition=1 |series=Ellis Horwood Series In Computers And Their Applications |publisher=[[Ellis Horwood Limited]] / [[Simon & Schuster International Group]] |___location=Chicester, West Sussex, UK |isbn=0-13-052564-2 |url=http://www.davidsalomon.name/assem.advertis/asl.pdf |access-date=2008-10-01 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323010358/http://www.davidsalomon.name/assem.advertis/asl.pdf |archive-date=2020-03-23}} [http://www.davidsalomon.name/assem.advertis/AssemAd.html][https://www.scribd.com/doc/7326575/Assembly-Language] (xiv+294+4 pages)
* Weik, Martin H., ''A Fourth Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems,''BRL Report No. 1227, January 1964 (Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland). [http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL64-i.html]
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* [http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0309-1_1410_autocoder.pdf 1964 IBM 1410 Autocoder manual from Bitsavers]
* [http://99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-assembler-(1401-autocoder)-1071.html IBM 1401 Autocoder example]
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Assembly languages]]
[[Category:IBM software]]
[[Category:IBM 700/7000 series
[[Category:IBM 1400 series]]
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