[COFF] Happy birthday, John Backus!

[clemc at ccc.com (Clem Cole)]

Tom - this all makes perfect sense.  Very cool.  You are undoubtedly the
source!!!   I'm sure I must have gotten it from you, but I admit that I
>>had<< thought I had seen it elsewhere, earlier before Dave had retired
(which was a few years back before Intel moved the team from NH to MA).
That's why I asked had you posted to somewhere else earlier maybe?

FWIW: Google translates the intro para to be:  which is similar to your
translation.  You rewrote ND-10... to Norsk Data which makes complete sense
by making the code more understandable out of the context of the document.

The FORTRAN program below can be compiled and executed on an ND-10/100 FTN
compiler. It consists only of FORTRAN reserved words and 'contains only one
numeric constant (it is in a text string). The program produces a known
mathematical "figure".

The program is an example that even FORTRAN is a block structured language.

I note the original as the PROGRAM card is by itself, but not indented.
Which is somewhat consistent with the Dave's observation of F4 requiring
PROGRAM, END and STOP to be on seperate card.

BTW:  given today's exchange, I sent the compiler team a note to state, we
got it from you and I've asked them to add a pointer to this document your
provided also.

Thanks again,
Clem



On Thu, Dec 5, 2019 at 2:50 PM Tom Ivar Helbekkmo <tih at hamartun.priv.no>
wrote:

> Clem Cole <clemc at ccc.com> writes:
>
> > I suspect when this was sent out to wherever I picked it up a few
> > years ago, the code had been changed to be 'pure F4' ;-)
>
> The version I have is the one that was floating around the SINTRAN
> environment at the Norwegian Institute of Technology when I was there
> back in the eighties.  I don't know where it originally came from, but
> it was printed in the in-house information publication RUN-NYTT in 1982.
>
> It's on page 9 of this issue:
>
>
> https://folk.ntnu.no/klv/IT-historie-ntnu/Run-nytt-1977-93/run-nytt-1-1982.pdf
>
> The comment at the top of the version you posted is actually my own
> translation of the text introducing the printed program text.
>
> -tih
> --
> Most people who graduate with CS degrees don't understand the significance
> of Lisp.  Lisp is the most important idea in computer science.  --Alan Kay
>
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