The IBM 1401 COBOL compiler wrote assembler (Autocoder) on a tape. Then
you had to mount the Autocoder assembler tape and assemble it. And it
included the input COBOL code as Autocoder comments.
On Thu, 18 Jun 2026, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
Interesting. I did Autocoder but never thought of it as assembler.
Programming the 1401 in assembler was when you took the output from
an Autocder deck and hand optimized it to a single card. :-)
Hand otimizing was more likely machine language programming rather than
"programming in assembler".
Sixty years ago, I took a course in 1401 machine language.
The 1401 was inconvenient to access regularly, but there was a [homemade?]
"compatability"? "conversion" program to be able to run small 1401 machine
language programs on the 1620.
I had just had a few years of FORTRAN programming, and a course using 1620
PDQ FORTRAN, but 1401 machine language changed my view of programming.
Most fun that I EVER had in a programming class.
I was going to then be taking a course in SPS ("Symbolic Programming
system"?)(a low level assembler) the next semester, but I got hired away
for a gig that got out of hand, almost into a career, and it was decade(s)
before I got back.
The 1401 was long gone :-(
I never experienced Autocoder; I understand that it is a much more
"advanced" assembler.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred [email protected]
