MATH-MATIC

MATH-MATIC is the marketing name for the AT-3 (Algebraic Translator 3) compiler, an early programming language for the UNIVAC I and UNIVAC II.

MATH-MATIC was written beginning around 1955 by a team led by Charles Katz under the direction of Grace Hopper. A preliminary manual^[1] was produced in 1957 and a final manual^[2] the following year.

Syntactically, MATH-MATIC was similar to Univac's contemporaneous business-oriented language, FLOW-MATIC, differing in providing algebraic-style expressions and floating-point arithmetic, and arrays rather than record structures.

Notable features[]

Expressions in MATH-MATIC could contain numeric exponents, including decimals and fractions, by way of a custom typewriter.^[3]

MATH-MATIC programs could include inline assembler sections of ARITH-MATIC code and UNIVAC machine code.^[4]

The UNIVAC I had only 1000 words of memory, and the successor UNIVAC II as little as 2000. MATH-MATIC allowed for larger programs, automatically generating code to read overlay segments from UNISERVO tape as required. The compiler attempted to avoid splitting loops across segments.^[5]

Influence[]

In proposing the collaboration with the ACM that led to ALGOL 58, the Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik wrote that it considered MATH-MATIC the closest available language to its own proposal.^[6]

In contrast to Backus' FORTRAN, MATH-MATIC did not emphasise execution speed of compiled programs. The UNIVAC machines did not have floating-point hardware, and MATH-MATIC was translated via A-3 (ARITH-MATIC) pseudo-assembler code rather than directly to UNIVAC machine code, limiting its usefulness. ^[7]

MATH-MATIC Sample program[]

A sample MATH-MATIC program:^[8]

(2)  TYPE-IN ALPHA . 
(2A) READ A B C SERVO 4 STORAGE A IF SENTINEL JUMP TO SENTENCE 8 . 
(3)  READ D F SERVO 5 . 
(4)  VARY Y 1 (0.1) 3 SENTENCE 5 THRU 6 . 
(5)  X1 = (7*103*Y*A*SIN ALPHA)3 / (B POW D+C POW E) . 
(6)  WRITE AND EDIT A Y D E X1 SERVO 6 . 
(7)  JUMP TO SENTENCE 2A . 
(8)  CLOSE-INPUT AND REWIND SENTENCE 3 . 
(9)  CLOSE-OUTPUT SENTENCE 6 . 
(10) READ F G H N SERVO 4 STORAGE A IF SENTINEL JUMP TO SENTENCE 20 . 
(11) EXECUTE SENTENCE 3 . 
(12) X2 = (3 ROOT (E-G)+LOG (D+N)) / (F2.6*EXP H) . 
(13) WRITE EDIT F D F X2 SERVO 6 . 
(16) JUMP TO SENTENCE 10 . 
(20) STOP .

Notes[]

References[]

• Ash, R.; Broadwin, E.; Della Valle, V.; Greene, M.; Jenny, A.; Katz, C.; Yu, L. (1957-04-19). Preliminary Manual for MATH-MATIC and ARITH-MATIC Systems for Algebraic Translation and Compilation for UNIVAC I and II (PDF) (Technical report). Philadelphia: Remington Rand Univac. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-12-26. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

• Bemer, Robert W. (1969), A Politico-Social History of Algol (With a Chronology in the Form of a Log Book) (PDF), retrieved 2016-03-20

• Knuth, Donald; Trabb Pardo, Luis (August 1976). The Early Development of Programming Languages (Technical report). Computer Science Department, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

• Sammet, Jean (1969). Programming Languages: History and Fundamentals. Prentice-Hall. pp. 132, 135–137. ISBN 978-0-13-729988-1.

• Univac MATH-MATIC Programming System (PDF) (Technical report). Remington Rand Univac. 1958. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

• "MATH-MATIC — Mathematically oriented autocode (Computer Language)". Online Historical Encyclopaedia of Programming Languages. Archived from the original on 2016-04-02. Retrieved 2016-03-20.

• "UNICODE — UNIVAC hybrid of FORTRAN and MATH-MATIC". Online Historical Encyclopaedia of Programming Languages. Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2016-03-20.