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{{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}}
'''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>
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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==
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</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. It lacked Autocoder's features and was generally used only on machines that lacked tape drives (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> Autocoder also had the ability to process code written for SPS. 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/2313}}</ref>
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 Autocoder. 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.
==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.{{cn|date=August 2019}}
[[Bell Laboratories]] developed a program called ''PEST'', Peripheral Equipment Symbolic Translator, which was a 1401 cross-assembler that ran on the 709/709x 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>
==Notes==
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