TLDR: Atlas Autocode was a programming language developed in the 1960s at the University of Manchester. It was a variant of the language ALGOL and was used for the Atlas computer. It had features like block structure, explicit typing, and the ability to include machine code. It also had a complex data type and allowed for range-checking and runtime-determined array dimensions.

Atlas Autocode was a programming language developed in the 1960s at the University of Manchester. It was created by Tony Brooker and Derrick Morris for the Atlas computer. It was a variant of the ALGOL programming language, which was a popular language at the time.

One of the main features of Atlas Autocode was its block structure. This means that the code was organized into blocks or sections, which made it easier to read and understand. It also had explicitly typed variables, which means that you had to specify the type of data that a variable could hold. This helped to prevent errors and make the code more reliable.

Another feature of Atlas Autocode was its ability to include machine code. Machine code is the low-level instructions that a computer understands. By including machine code in their programs, programmers could make certain operations more efficient or perform tasks that were not easily done in the high-level language.

Atlas Autocode also had a complex data type, which was used to represent complex numbers. Complex numbers are used in electrical engineering to represent the behavior of alternating current. The language had a special symbol, "i", to represent the square root of -1, which is the imaginary unit in complex numbers.

One interesting thing about Atlas Autocode is that it allowed for range-checking and runtime-determined array dimensions. This means that the compiler could check if an array access was within the valid range and it could also handle arrays with dimensions that were calculated at runtime.

Atlas Autocode later evolved into the language Edinburgh IMP, which was used to write the Edinburgh Multiple Access System (EMAS) operating system. IMP was an extension of Atlas Autocode and had many of the same features.

In summary, Atlas Autocode was a programming language developed in the 1960s at the University of Manchester. It was a variant of the ALGOL language and had features like block structure, explicit typing, and the ability to include machine code. It also had a complex data type and allowed for range-checking and runtime-determined array dimensions.

Related Links:

• Atlas Autocode Reference Manual
• The main features of Atlas Autocode
• Atlas Autocode Mini-Manual
• Mercury Autocode, Atlas Autocode and some Associated Matters