🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <16101@csli.Stanford.EDU> poser@csli.stanford.edu (Bill Poser) writes:
>In article <12175@ganymede.inmos.co.uk> conor@inmos.co.uk (Conor O'Neill) writes:
>>When I was first taught any computer science, I was taught that an assembler
>>performed a one-to-one translation of assembly language mnemonics to
>>machine instructions. I like, and can understand, that definition.
>
>>Am I the only programmer who wishes that MIPS hadn't "corrupted" the word
>>"assembler", but had used some other term instead?
>
>[VAX and DEC 20 references omitted]

If my memory serves, the IBM 650 had a Symbolic Optimizing
Assembly Program (yep, they used the acronym) that rearranged
the machine-language instructions to a good order so that
they can be executed faster on the drum memory.

The concept that an assembler can mess with the translation is
a lot older than some of the people reading it.

(Disclaimer:  I'm not sure it was an IBM 650, but it was on an
IBM with drum main memory, which puts it back in the '50s.
For an education in how people worked with such drum
memories, go to alt.folklore.computers and ask about Mel. :-)

DHT