From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: alex at bochannek.com (Alex Bochannek) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2019 09:14:24 -0800 Subject: [COFF] [TUHS] AP-3 minicomputer In-Reply-To: (Dan Cross's message of "Fri, 20 Dec 2019 03:49:49 -0500") References: <0FCF3C9F0F6C2441BC6C13C6E49BAEF101DC35B21D@EX-MB1.hq.computerhistory.org> <4C8A6FE1-3A6E-4F28-AABE-793AABD3F4C4@mcjones.org> Message-ID: Dan Cross writes: > On Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 1:52 PM Paul McJones > wrote: > > Computer History Museum curator Dag Spicer passed along a > question from former CHM curator Alex Bochannek that I thought > someone on this list might be able to answer. The paper "The M4 > Macro Processor” by Kernighan and Ritchie says: > > > The M4 macro processor is an extension of a macro processor > called M3 which was written by D. M. Ritchie for the AP-3 > minicomputer; M3 was in turn based on a macro processor > implemented for [B. W. Kernighan and P. J. Plauger, Software > Tools, Addison-Wesley, Inc., 1976]. > > Alex and Dag would like to learn more about this AP-3 > minicomputer — can anyone help? > > > [I recommend that follow-ups go to coff, which is Cc'ed here] > > I took a short stab at this, but can find little beyond references in > the aforementioned M4 paper. > > I did, however, run across this: https://www.cia.gov/library/ > readingroom/document/cia-rdp78b04770a000100110018-1 > > This appears to be a declassified letter written to the US Air Force > at Bowling Green Air Force Base in regards to spare parts fo the AP-3 > computer; dated October 19, 1966. The list of parts seem reasonable > for a minicomputer, and it further seems reasonable to believe that > this may be related to the same type of computer referenced in the M4 > paper. However, details of the sending party have been redacted, and > there is nothing pointing to the identity of the manufacturer. Good find. The part numbers suggest Bendix. > Sadly, that's all that seems available. I wonder if, perhaps, Doug > McIlroy (Cc'ed directly to float this to the top of his stack) can > shed more light on the topic? > >         - Dan C. > > > -- Alex.