C. Keith Ray

C. Keith Ray writes about and develops software in multiple platforms and languages, including iOS® and Macintosh®.
Keith's Résumé (pdf)

Monday, December 30, 2013

Proposed Assembly Language Instructions (mid-1980's humor)

Imagine the computer-room of old: non-removable disk drives that are the size and shape of a dishwasher. Tape drives spinning like in those old black-and-white movies. Punch card input. Paper-tape for input/output. Form-feed printers with paper 17-inches wide. And the computer operator in white lab coat who controls access to the room-sized computer and loads tapes for you. In that world, these assembly-language instructions are funny. 

I'm not quite old enough to have experienced that world directly. I've never actually seen a paper-tape IO device, and I never actually wrote code that used those big magnetic tapes for input/ouput. (I did use cassette-tape storage with a ZX-81. That's very different.)

BH Branch and Hang
TDB Transfer and Drop Bits
DO Divide and Overflow
IIB Ignore Inquiry and Branch
SRZ Subtract and Reset to Zero
PI Punch Invalid
FSRA Forms Skip and Run Away
SRSD Seek Record and Scar Disk
BST Backspace and Stretch Tape
RIRG Read Inter-Record Gap
UER Update and Erase Record
SPSW Scramble Program Status Word
EIOC Execute Invalid OpCode
EROS Erase Read-Only Storage
PBC Print and Break Chain
MLR Move and Lose Record
DMPK Destroy Memory-Protect Key
DC Divide and Conquer
EPI Execute Programmer Immediate
LCC Loud and Clean Core
HCF Halt and Catch Fire
BBI Break on Blinking Indicator
BPO Branch on Power Off
AI Add Improper
ARZ Add and Reset to Zero
RSD Read and Scramble Data
RI Read Invalid
RP Read Printer
BSP Backspace Printer
MPB Move and Pitch Bits
RNR Read Noise Record
WWLR Write Wrong Length Record
RBT Rewind and Break Tape
ED Eject Disk
RW Rewind Disk
RDS Reverse Disk Spin
BD Backspace Disk
RTM Read Tape Mark
DTA Disconnect Telecommunication Adapter
STR Store Random
BKO Branch and Kill Operator
CRN Convert to Roman Numerals
FS Fire Supervisor
BRI Branch to Random Instruction
PDR Play Disk Record
POS Purge Operating System
USO Unwind Spooled Output
EPSW Erase Program Status Word
PMT Punch Magnetic Tape
AAIE Accept Apology and Ignore Errors

1 comment:

  1. I've included HCF in assembly-language programs as a joke. Yes, I'm that old.

    ReplyDelete