| Execution method: | Compiled (machine code) |
|---|---|
| Garbage collected: | No |
| Type checking: | Static |
| See Also: |
MAD (theMichigan Algorithm Decoder) is a programming language developed in 1959 at the University of Michigan by Bernard Galler, Bruce Arden and Robert M. Graham. It was originally implemented on the IBM 704, and later ported to a variety of systems including the IBM System/370. It is notable for being the first language used under CTSS (the Compatible Time-Sharing System). Among the programs written in it was RUNOFF, the ancestor of today'snroff typesetting program. A transpiler existed that could translate Fortran-2 code into MAD.
The language is partially based on ALGOL-58, but does not resemble it syntactically. Similar to early versions of FORTRAN, it is a fixed-format language. The first 10 columns contain a statement label, column 11 may be markedR to indicate a comment, and columns 12-72 contain the code.
Eric S. Raymond has written an implementation of MAD that runs on modern Linux, which can be foundon Gitlab. This distribution also contains a transcription of the original MAD manual, as well as a couple of programs from its heyday.
"What, me worry?"
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