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Research and Advances

Use of the disk file on stretch

The paper begins by briefly describing the Stretch (IBM 7030) computer with special emphasis given to the organization and operation of its input-output equipment. Physical characteristics of the two-disk system (4,194,304 72-bit words, 8 µsec-per-word transmission rate, etc.) are noted. Timing limitations due to arm motion and disk rotation are discussed. Applications of disk usage are discussed separately for problem programs and for systems programs such as compilers and the supervisory program. Approximately 260,000 words of disk storage are reserved for the storage of systems programs and the subroutine library. Problem programs, however, are not currently filed on the disk. Certain programming techniques are discussed for transmitting words between disk and core storage with minimum delaying and interruption of the arithmetic unit. Dumps on disk are considered for both recovery from computer malfunction and for mathematical or physical developments during the calculation.
Research and Advances

Computation’s development critical to our society

The ACM's growth continues: we are now at 13,000 members; expenses also grow. Our professional membership does not spring from a uniformly trained group as in mathematics or physics or even economics. Instead, our increasing membership comes from what I might call intellectual adventures—pioneers in an over-organized society—who see great futures in computing at all levels of aspiration.
Research and Advances

A comparison of disks and tapes

The principal characteristics of current magnetic disks and tape units are summarized and compared. Some of the characteristics of disk files are illustrated in a sorting example and compared to a tapesort. The conclusion is presented that disk files are competitive to tapes in some important applications.
Research and Advances

DATA-DIAL: two-way communication with computers from ordinary dial telphones

An operating system is described which allows users to call up a remotely located computer from ordinary dial telephones. No special hardware or connections are required at the users' telephones. Input to the computer is through the telephone dial; output from the computer is in spoken form. Results of a test with telephones in the Boston area are reported.
Research and Advances

Variable width stacks

Character addressable, variable field computers permit ready establishment and manipulation of variable width stacks. Single machine commands may push variable field items down into such stacks or pop them up. The availability of a variety of field delimiters allows the machine to push down or pop up more than one variable width item with one command. Since these stacking operations can be made the basis of compiler decoding algorithms, the proper use of machines of this class for compilation has advantages over machines with fixed-length words.
Research and Advances

What is proprietary in mathematical programming?— impressions of a panel discussion

A panel discussion on “What is Proprietary in Mathematical Programming?” was sponsored by the Special Interest Committee on Mathematical Programming of the ACM during a Hall of Discussion/on September 7th at the 16TH National ACM meeting in Los Angeles. This note consists solely of the impressions garnered by the moderator of the panel and does not necessarily represent the position of any of the panelists or other participants in the discussion.
Research and Advances

n-dimensional codes for detecting and correcting multiple errors0

The paper introduces a new family of codes for detecting and correcting multiple errors in a binary-coded message. The message itself is arranged (conceptually) into a multidimensional rectangular array. The processes of encoding and error detection are based upon parity evaluations along prescribed dimensions of the array. Effectiveness of the codes is increased by introducing a “system check bit”, which is essentially a parity check on the other parity bits. Only three-dimensional codes are discussed in this paper, with parity evaluations along the horizontal, the vertical, and one main diagonal. However, the family of codes is not restricted to three dimensions, as evidenced by the discussion by Minnick and Ashenhurst on a similar multidimensional single-bit selection plan used for another purpose [6]. A four-dimensional code, correcting three and detecting four errors, has been developed; the extension to higher-dimensional codes with greater correction power is straightforward.
Research and Advances

A semi-automatic storage allocation system at loading time

The method of storage allocation described herein, although new in a few respects, does not represent any sharp break from the past. Rather it is another step of development suggested by experience accumulated over several years with the 704,709 and 7090 FORTRAN systems. The storage assignment method proposed is, in principle, extremely simple and is not specific to FORTRAN or the 7090. Although the method depends only on rather general language aspects, the concrete detail will be illustrated in terms of the aforementioned systems or proposed extensions.
Research and Advances

A storage allocation scheme for ALGOL 60

A storage allocation scheme for a machine with a 2048-instruction core store and a magnetic drum is described. The use of the drum for storing program blocks and/or data must be directed by the programmer through auxiliary information in the ALGOL program. The administrative routines controlling the storage at run time are described in full. A detailed example is given.

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