[TUHS] Did UNIX Ever Touch SPC-SWAP, EPL, or EPLX (1A Languages)?

[segaloco via TUHS]

On Saturday, May 25th, 2024 at 3:28 PM, Alan Glasser <alanglasser at gmail.com> wrote:

> Matt,
> First, sorry for the delayed response.
> 
> In around 1994 through late 1996 I worked on the FlashPort project in Bell Labs.
> A significant project that we completed was FlashPort'ing the 4ESS SWAP assembler from TSS/360 to Solaris.
> My memory is that the 4E team wanted to get off of TSS and onto Unix.
> 
> Alan
> 
> https://techmonitor.ai/technology/emulator_house_echo_logic_folded_back_into_att
> 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 5, 2024 at 12:59 AM segaloco via TUHS <tuhs at tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> > So I've been doing a bit of reading on 1A and 4ESS technologies lately, getting
> > a feel for the state of things just prior to 3B and 5ESS popping onto the scene,
> > and came across some BSTJ references to the programming environments involved
> > in the 4ESS and TSPS No. 1 systems.
> > 
> > The general assembly system targeting the 1A machine language was known as
> > SPC-SWAP (SWitching Assembly Program)[1](p. 206) and ran under OS/360/370, with
> > editing typically performed in QED. This then gave way to the EPL (ESS
> > Programming Language) and ultimately EPLX (EPL eXtra)[2](p. 1)[3](p. 8)
> > languages which, among other things, were used for later 4ESS work with cross-
> > compilers for at least TSS/360 by the sounds of it.
> > 
> > Are there any recollections of attempts by the Bell System to rebase any of
> > these 1A-targeting environments into UNIX, or by the time UNIX was being
> > considered more broadly for Bell System projects, was 3B/5ESS technology well on
> > the way, rendering attempting to move entrenched IBM-based environments for the
> > older switching computation systems moot?
> > 
> > For the record, in addition to the evolution of ESS to the 5ESS generation, a
> > revision of TSPS, 1B, was also introduced which was rebased on the 3B20D
> > processor and utilized the same 3B cross-compilation SGS under UNIX as other 3B-
> > targeted applications[4]. Interestingly, the paper on software development
> > in [4](p. 109) still makes reference to Programmer's Workbench as of 1982,
> > implying that nomenclature may have still been the norm at some Bell Labs sites
> > such as Naperville, Illinois, although I can't tell if they're referring to
> > PWB as in the branch of UNIX or the environment of make, sccs, etc.
> > 
> > Additionally, is anyone aware of surviving accessible specimens of SWAP
> > assembly, EPL, or EPLX code or literature beyond the BSTJ references and paper
> > referenced in the IEEE library below? Thanks for any insights!
> > 
> > - Matt G.
> > 
> > [1] - https://bitsavers.org/magazines/Bell_System_Technical_Journal/BSTJ_V58N06_197907_Part_1.pdf
> > [2] - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/810323
> > [3] - https://bitsavers.org/magazines/Bell_System_Technical_Journal/BSTJ_V60N06_198107_Part_2.pdf
> > [4] - https://bitsavers.org/magazines/Bell_System_Technical_Journal/BSTJ_V62N03_198303_Part_3.pdf

Wow, FlashPort sounds like quite the endeavor!  It's funny, I've been considering something along those lines for attempting to port older console video games to computer, somewhere between emulation and a true port, essentially emulation where most of the actual translation of CPU operations has been done before-hand (AOT) rather than the common interpreter or dynacomp approaches (JIT).  Glad to see a sizeable example of that sort of thing being used.

Now if only Nokia would take a walk through the archives and see if any of this stuff still exists...

- Matt G.