Language H Explained

Language H is a proprietary, procedural programming language created by NCR based on COBOL. The first compiler was developed in August 1962 to run on the National-Elliott 405M and produce object code for the National-Elliott 803B.[1] It is believed that the "H" stands for John C Harwell.[2]

Language H
Paradigm:procedural
Year:1962
Influenced By:COBOL

Syntax

Language H programs consist of a heading section followed by sets of statements called "chapters." Comments are introduced and terminated by asterisks. It has 84 reserved keywords.[3] Some of them are:[4] READ, PRINT, PUNCH, NUMBER, MAX, BEING, FROM, CHANNEL, DIGIT, STERLING, CHARACTERS, UP, TO, RADICES, QUANTITY, DECIMAL, POINT, INADMISSIBLE, INPUT, CONTROL, ERROR, SEEN-CHARACTER, OPERAND, CALCULATE, HOLD, OFF, ON, SEE, AT, POSITION, PLACES, FILE, GET, AGAIN, WITH, FINISH, REEL-END, UNOBTAINABLE, END-OF-FILE, MARKER, BRANCH, OR, GET-AGAIN, ACCORDING, SEQUENTIAL, FILING, DUMP, DATA, PROCESSING, PROGRAM, FOR, CHAPTER, NOTE, IN, OBEY, AND, ARE, AT, BY, IN, IS

Notes and References

  1. Cormack. A.S.. November 1, 1962. Early Operating Experience with Language H. The Computer Journal. 5. 3. 158–161 . 10.1093/comjnl/5.3.158 . free.
  2. Book: Lavington, Simon. Moving Targets: Elliott-Automation and the Dawn of the Computer Age in Britain. Springer. 2011. 978-1848829329.
  3. Web site: Archived copy . 2020-04-04 . 2019-07-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190713094301/http://www.thecorememory.com/NCR_Language_H.pdf . dead .
  4. Summer 2018. Resurrection. The Journal of the Computer Conservation Society. 82. 43.