21 Oct
2019
21 Oct
'19
8:05 p.m.
Norman Wilson <norman(a)oclsc.org> writes:
In `UNIX Assembler Reference Manual,' Dennis
credits Knuth
for numeric temporary labels, with a reference to volume 1
of The Art of Computer Programming.
I'm several thousand kilometers from my copy of Knuth (though
rather nearer to Knuth himself, albeit not within asking
range), so I'll leave it to others to track down the exact
reference.
TAOCP 1 (1968), page 147:
"Local symbols have a different nature; we write, for example 2H
("2 here") in the location field, and 2F ("2 forward") or 2B
("2 backward") in the address field of a MIXAL line:
2B means the closest previous location 2H
2F means the closest following location 2H
[...]
The idea of local symbols was introduced by M. E. Conway in 1958,
in connection with an assembly program for the UNIVAC 1."
This is the originator of Conway's Law, btw. I could not find
more detail about this assembler.
--
Leah Neukirchen <leah(a)vuxu.org> https://leahneukirchen.org/