Talk:MAD (programming language)

Algorithmic vs. Algorithm

It is my recollection that MAD stood for Michigan Algorithmic Decorder and not Michigan Algorighm Decoder. If anyone knows for certain, please make an entry on this talk page. JJ 00:56, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Nope, "Michigan Algorithm Decoder" is correct. Jeff Ogden (talk) 20:06, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

I distinctly remember it from my college days at University of Maryland. It was called Michigan Algorithmic Decoder. Maybe it had two names, depending on where it was used.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Rcleaver (talk • contribs) 19:28, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

The folks who wrote MAD (Arden, Galler, and Graham) at the University of Michigan called it "Michigan Algorithm Decoder". The name appears on all of the documentation and in other documents they produced, many of which are available online, see the references in the article. I've never seen a reference to Algorithmic in anything from Michigan. You do see "Michigan Algorthmic Decoder" used in other non-Michigan references. And, there is this comment:

The MAD compiler for the UNIVAC 1100 computers called RALPH was developed at the University of Maryland. The name RALPH is an acronym of sorts: Reentrant Algorithmic Language Processor with H just for the H of it. (The explanation of the acronym is supplied by George Baltz, formerly at the University of Maryland.)[1]

Jeff Ogden (talk) 01:27, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

There is a book, An introduction to algorithmic methods using the MAD language, by Alan B. Marcovitz and Earl J. Schweppe, New York, Macmillan [1966]. The use of the word algorithmic in the title may have lead to some confusion as to what MAD stood for. Jeff Ogden (talk) 14:52, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

I had dinner with Bruce Arden yesterday evening. He confirmed that the name was Michigan Algorithm Decoder and not Algorthmic Decoder. He wasn't sure how the confusion about the name got started. He said that Algorthmic would describe how the compiler worked, while Algorithm described what the compiler decoded. And he asked, "Aren't all compilers algorthmic"? Jeff Ogden (talk) 12:31, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

I did my masters thesis at MIT in 1964 and I am sure it was called "Algorithmic". Used for a lot of programming on Multicx system Richard Marks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.167.86.14 (talk) 16:16, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Floating point in subscripts and loop counters

One other thing I distinctly remember, that is not mentioned anywhere in the article, is that you could use floating point subscripts and loop counters. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rcleaver (talk • contribs) 19:28, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

The above information was added at 16:20 on 28 July 2011 by me. --Jeff Ogden (W163) (talk) 04:05, 3 November 2012 (UTC)

Dennis Ritchie

One of the first largish programs I wrote all by myself
(not counting some Fortran numerical routines
as part of a summer internship at Bell Labs)
was a RISK calculator. It produced a table
of the probability of winning (n armies fight m armies).
It was written in MAD.

Dennis

— alt.folklore.computers Sep 19, 2003, 12:18:13 AM (UTC?)

-- Jamplevia (talk) 15:34, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

"played a minor role in the development of CTSS"?

The statement, "played a minor role in the development of CTSS" is very dubious.

On CTSS, by 1965, most B-core loaded commands were written in MAD. -- Tom Van Vleck

B-core A.K.A. Core-B loaded commands (and libraries) refers to what is userland in Linux-speak.

Jamplevia (talk) 20:10, 18 April 2022 (UTC)