JOSS (nonfiction)

JOSS, an acronym for JOHNNIAC Open Shop System, was one of the very first interactive, time-sharing programming languages. It pioneered a number of features that would become common in languages from the 1960s into the 1980s, including line numbers as both editing instructions and targets for branches, statements predicated by boolean decisions, and a built-in editor that can perform instructions in "direct" or "immediate" mode, a conversational user interface.

JOSS was initially implemented on the JOHNNIAC machine at Rand Corporation and put online in 1963. It proved very popular, and the users quickly bogged the machine down. By 1964 a replacement was sought with higher performance. JOHNNIAC was retired in 1966 and replaced by a PDP-6, which ultimately grew to support hundreds of computer terminals based on the IBM Selectric. The terminals used green ink for user input and black for the computer's response. Any command that was not understood elicited the response "Eh?" or "SORRY".

The system was highly influential, spawning a variety of ports and offshoots. Some remained similar to the original, like TELCOMP and STRINGCOMP, CAL, CITRAN, ISIS, PIL/I, JEAN (ICT 1900 series), AID (PDP-10); while others, such as FOCAL and MUMPS, developed in distinctive directions. It also bears a strong resemblance to the BASIC interpreters found on microcomputers in the 1980s, differing primarily in syntax details.

Fiction cross-reference

• Crimes against mathematical constants
• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Computer science (nonfiction)
• Programming language (nonfiction) - a formal language, which comprises a set of instructions that produce various kinds of output. Programming languages are used in computer programming to implement algorithms. Most programming languages consist of instructions for computers.
• Time-sharing (nonfiction) - the sharing of a computing resource among many users by means of multiprogramming and multi-tasking at the same time. Its emergence as the prominent model of computing in the 1970s represented a major technological shift in the history of computing. By allowing many users to interact concurrently with a single computer, time-sharing dramatically lowered the cost of providing computing capability, made it possible for individuals and organizations to use a computer without owning one, and promoted the interactive use of computers and the development of new interactive applications.

External links:

• JOSS @ Wikipedia