A CONVERT compiler of REC for PDP-8
Abstract
REC (REGULAR EXPRESSION COMPILER) is a programming language of simple structure developed originally for the PDP-8 computer of the Digital Equipment, Corporation, but readily adaptable to any other general purpose computer. It has been used extensively in teaching Algebra and Numerical Analysis in the Escuela Superior de F\'isica y Matem\'aticas of the Instituto Polit\'ecnico Nacional. Moreover, the fact that the same control language, REC, is equally applicable and equally efficient over the whole range of computer facilities available to the students gives a very welcome coherence to the entire teaching program, including the course of Mathematical Logic which is devoted to the theoretical aspects of such matters. REC; derives its appeal from the fact that computers can be regarded reasonably well as Turing Machines. The REC notation is simply a manner of writing regular expression, somewhat more amenable to programming the Turing Machine which they control. If one does not wish to think so strictly in terms of Turing Machines, REC expressions still provide a means of defining the flow of control in a program which is quite convenient for many applications.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.1107.2437,
title = {A CONVERT compiler of REC for PDP-8},
author = {Harold V. McIntosh},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1107.2437},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
This paper is seminal formal definition for REC language was published in "Acta Mexicana de Ciencia y Tecnolog\'ia" of IPN, Jan-April 1968. REC is a programming language of extremely simple structure and what it was proved that the well publicized inconvenience of programming without a goto was a myth in Sixties endings