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Guy Harris (talk | contribs) The big new feature in the post-BAL assembly language was support for macros. Some macro assemblers supported more features than others; see, for example, pages 143-145 of http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/360/asm/C28-6514-5_IBM_System_360_Assembler_Language_Level_E_F_Dec67.pdf. Distinguish between S/3x0 macro assembler language and its variants, and the assemblers that supported them. |
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The first of these, the '''Basic Assembly Language''' ('''BAL'''), is an extremely restricted [[assembly language]], introduced in 1964 and used on 360 systems with only 8 KB of main memory, and only a [[card reader]], a [[card punch]], and a printer for [[input/output]], as part of [[IBM Basic Programming Support]] (BPS/360). The Basic Assembler for BAL was also available as part of [[Basic Operating System/360]] (BOS/360).
Subsequently, an assembly language appeared for the System/360 that had more powerful features and usability, such as support for [[assembly language#Macros|macros]]. This language, and the line of assemblers that implemented it, continued to evolve for the [[System/370]] and the architectures that followed, inheriting and extending its syntax. Some in the computer industry referred to these under the generic term "Basic Assembly Language" or "BAL".<ref>For instance, see {{cite book | title=System/360–370 Assembler Language (OS) | first=Kevin | last=McQuillen | publisher=Mike Murach & Associates | ___location=Fresno, California | date=1975 | lccn=74-29645 | page=17}}</ref> Many did not, however, and IBM itself usually referred to them as simply the "System/360 Assembler Language",<ref>For instance, {{cite book | title=A Programmer's Introduction to IBM System/360 Assembler Language | publisher=International Business Machines Corporation | ___location=Poughkeepsie, New York | date=1969 }}</ref> as the "Assembler" for a given operating system or platform,<ref>For instance, on the "yellow card", sixth page of foldout, marked as for OS/VS, VM/370, and DOS/VS: {{cite document |date=November 1976 |title=System/370 Reference Summary |___location=White Plains, New York |publisher=IBM Corporation }} Fourth edition.</ref> or similar names. Specific assemblers were known by such names{{efn|IBM indicate the target sizes of its software with the letters
* D 16 KiB * E 32 Kib * F 64 KiB * G 128 KiB * H 256 KiB * I 512 KiB}} as Assembler E, Assembler F, Assembler H, and so forth. Programmers utilizing this language, and this family of assemblers, also refer to them as ALC (for Assembly Language Coding), or simply "the assembler". The latest derived language is known as the '''IBM High-Level Assembler''' ('''HLASM''').
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