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{{Short description|Computer assembler}}
{{ConfuseDistinguish|Autoencoder}}
{{aboutAbout|the IBM Autocoder assemblers|the generic term used in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s for a family of "simplified coding systems"|Autocode}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020|cs1-dates=y}}
'''Autocoder''' is any of a group of [[assembly language|assembler]]s for a number of [[IBM]] [[computer]]s of the 1950s and 1960s.
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==History==
The first assembler, [[Symbolic Programming System]]<ref>{{cite manual▼
| title = IBM 1401 SYMBOLIC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM: PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS▼
| id = J28-200-1▼
| year = 1960▼
| publisher = IBM▼
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/J28-200-1_IBM_1401_Symbolic_Programming_System_Preliminary_Specifications_Jan60.pdf▼
| mode = cs2▼
}}▼
</ref> (SPS), was the assembler offered when the [[IBM 1401]] originally was announced 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>▼
 
The first Autocoders were released in 1955 for the [[IBM 702]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1956 |date=1957 |publisher=Copyright Office, Library of Congress |page=305 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxshAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA305 |accessdate=Aug 23, 2019}}</ref> and in 1956 for the almost compatible [[IBM 705]].<ref>{{cite manual
| title = 705 autocoder system - manual of information
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/705/22-6726-1_autocoder_Feb57.pdf
| format = PDF
| mode = cs2
}}</ref>
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| publisher = IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0309-1_1410_autocoder.pdf
| format = PDF
| mode = cs2
}}</ref>
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| publisher = IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1410/C28-0326-2_1410_OS_Autocoder.pdf
| format = PDF
| mode = cs2
}}</ref>
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6102-1_7070_Four_Tape_Autocoder_Apr61.pdf
| format mode = PDFcs2
| mode = cs2
}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite manual
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6121-0_7070autocoder_61.pdf
| format mode = PDFcs2
| mode = cs2
}}</ref>
[[IBM 7080]],
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/7070/C28-6121-0_7070autocoder_61.pdf
| format mode = PDFcs2
| mode = cs2
}}</ref>
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
| mode = cs2
}}; 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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==Autocoder as implemented on the IBM 1401==
▲The first assembler, [[Symbolic Programming System]]<ref>{{cite manual
▲ | title = IBM 1401 SYMBOLIC PROGRAMMING SYSTEM: PRELIMINARY SPECIFICATIONS
▲ | id = J28-200-1
▲ | year = 1960
▲ | publisher = IBM
▲ | url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/J28-200-1_IBM_1401_Symbolic_Programming_System_Preliminary_Specifications_Jan60.pdf
▲ | mode = cs2
▲ }}
▲</ref> (SPS), was the assembler offered when theIBM originally announced [[IBM 1401|1401]] originally was announced 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]]
The most well known1401 Autocoder<ref>{{cite manual
| 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
| format = PDF
| mode = cs2
}}
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| publisher= IBM Corporation
| url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/1401/C24-3258-2_Disk_Autocoder_Specifications_Apr66.pdf
| format = PDF
| mode = cs2
}}
</ref> is thatthe ofmost thewell [[IBMknown 1401]]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=ArchivedThe Encyclopedia of Computer copyLanguages |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 popularity of Autocoder inspired other assemblers. ‘’Easycoder’’ for the [[Honeywell 200]], a computer similar to the 1401, resembled Autocoder. 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.{{cncitation needed|date=August 2019}}
 
[[Bell Laboratories]] developed a program called ''PEST'', "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/2313231}}</ref>
 
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
<references />
 
==References==
* Allen, F. E., "The history of language processor technology at IBM", ''IBM Journal of Research and Development,'' '''25'''(5), pp. 535-548&nbsp;535–548 (September 1981). [http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/255/ibmrd2505Q.pdf]
* 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 State (1955) the High Speed Computer Conference, Louisiana State University, 16 Feb. 1955, Remington Rand, Inc., 1955. [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univac/HopperAutoCodingPaper_1955.pdf]
* {{cite book |author-first=David |author-last=Salomon |editor-first=Ian D. |editor-last=Chivers |title=Assemblers and Loaders |date=February 1993 |orig-year=1992 |edition=1 |series=Ellis Horwood Series In Computers And Their Applications |publisher=[[Ellis Horwood Limited]] / [[Simon & Schuster International Group]] |___location=California State University, Northridge USA |publication-place=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]]
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