Re: The Curse of the Semi-colon
I was a student at Dartmouth from 1963 to 1967. I worked on the time-sharing system based on the GE-225/235 and the GE DataNet 30, and on two succeeding time-sharing systems based on the GE-635 and the GE DataNet 30. The 225 system was the first host of a BASIC compiler, written by John G. Kemeny with guidance from Thomas E. Kurtz. Most of the code I wrote was communications front-end code for the DataNet 30, but I also wrote quite a bit of 235 code. In the summer of 1964, Steve Garland, an earlier Dartmouth grad, returned to campus to write an Algol 60 compiler for the 235 time-sharing system. I wrote the runtime math library, i.e. the transcendental functions, square root, etc. and suggested some formatting options for the non-standardized terminal output facility.
After the summer, Steve Garland departed the scene, to return again sometime after I graduated. Sarr Blumson was the next to take responsibility for our Algol 60 compiler.
I wrote a fair amount of code in Algol 60, the most sophisticated of which analyzed the radiation field of an Ernst Radiation Applicator containing an adjustable number and configuration of radium needles, related the radiation to key feature locations taken from an in-situ x-ray of applicator. The results were presented as a plot of isodose lines on a teletype printout. The key feature locations were included in the plot, which was to scale such that the x-ray could be overlaid on the printout to aid in interpretation of the results. I used Algol 60 for this project because the code would not have fit in a BASIC program. BASIC programs at that time were limited to 250 or perhaps 256 lines. Algol 60 source code was much more compact and concise than BASIC source code.
I don't expect many people to ever read this due to the timing, but I decided to add my two cents to the record, anyway.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
