Documentation, TRW-130 ANUYK-1 Digital Computer Coding Card

Documentation, TRW-130 AN/UYK-1 Digital Computer Coding Card

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Description
This code card assisted with the programing of TRW-130 computers made by Thompson Ramo Wooldridge, Inc. It includes the octal and decimal equivalents for common logand codes. The word “logand” was a computer acronym for “logical command” the intermediate level programming language planned in the design of the TRW-130 computer.
The donor, who programmed TRW-130 computers, shares the following:
“Logan programming allowed assembly languages to be developed for specific applications. …. Most programmers never saw the logans because they used one of these specialized assembly languages.
I did most of my programming in logans, however. The logan code was extremely difficult. One had to understand how the machine operated at the flip-flop and gate level. Each instruction was at the clock level and one had to understand what the hardware was doing at each clock cycle. If you made a mistake, the error was difficult to find. The machine basically went nuts. It started doing things that it was never supposed to do. Every bit configuration in the machine was executable. One could easily create a function which you had no idea what would happen. It was not unusual to make a mistake that caused the machine to branch into data, and since every bit configuration was executable, the machine would start executing data thinking it was instructions.”
Reference:
Nonccession file 2015.3097.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
documentation
maker
Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Inc.
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
plastic (overall material)
Measurements
overall:.1 cm x 7.5 cm x 15.8 cm; 1/32 in x 2 15/16 in x 6 7/32 in
ID Number
2015.3097.10
nonaccession number
2015.3097
catalog number
2015.3097.10
Credit Line
Gift of R. Kirk Lubbes
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Computers
Computers & Business Machines
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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