CORC
Encyclopedia
CORC was a simple computer language developed at Cornell University
in 1962 to serve lay users, namely, for students to use to solve math problems. Its developers, industrial engineering
professors Richard Conway and William Maxwell and mathematics
professor Robert J. Walker, sought to create a diagnostic compiler in PL/I
which could both expose math and engineering students to computing and remove the burden of mechanical problem-solving from their professors.
CORC was designed with ease of use in mind. In contrast to the BASIC programming language under contemporaneous development at Dartmouth College
, it used English language
statements
. Since programs were tediously input with punched cards, the compiler
had a high tolerance for error, attempting to bypass or even correct problem sections of code. Students could submit a program by 5 PM which would be compiled or run overnight, with results available the next morning.
It was initially run on the Burroughs 220 and later extended to the Control Data Corporation
CDC 1604
. In 1966 it was superseded by CUPL, a batch compiler for teaching which ran on the IBM
System/360.
An extension of CORC, the Cornell List Processor (CLP), was a list processing language used for simulation.
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1962 to serve lay users, namely, for students to use to solve math problems. Its developers, industrial engineering
Industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering dealing with the optimization of complex processes or systems. It is concerned with the development, improvement, implementation and evaluation of integrated systems of people, money, knowledge, information, equipment, energy, materials, analysis...
professors Richard Conway and William Maxwell and mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
professor Robert J. Walker, sought to create a diagnostic compiler in PL/I
PL/I
PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language designed for scientific, engineering, business and systems programming applications...
which could both expose math and engineering students to computing and remove the burden of mechanical problem-solving from their professors.
CORC was designed with ease of use in mind. In contrast to the BASIC programming language under contemporaneous development at Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, it used English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
statements
Statement (programming)
In computer programming a statement can be thought of as the smallest standalone element of an imperative programming language. A program written in such a language is formed by a sequence of one or more statements. A statement will have internal components .Many languages In computer programming...
. Since programs were tediously input with punched cards, the compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
had a high tolerance for error, attempting to bypass or even correct problem sections of code. Students could submit a program by 5 PM which would be compiled or run overnight, with results available the next morning.
It was initially run on the Burroughs 220 and later extended to the Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation
Control Data Corporation was a supercomputer firm. For most of the 1960s, it built the fastest computers in the world by far, only losing that crown in the 1970s after Seymour Cray left the company to found Cray Research, Inc....
CDC 1604
CDC 1604
The CDC 1604 was a 48-bit computer designed and manufactured by Seymour Cray and his team at the Control Data Corporation. The 1604 is known as the first commercially successful transistorized computer. Legend has it that the 1604 designation was chosen by adding CDC's first street address to...
. In 1966 it was superseded by CUPL, a batch compiler for teaching which ran on the IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
System/360.
An extension of CORC, the Cornell List Processor (CLP), was a list processing language used for simulation.
External links
- Resource page for cupl 1.6, providing binary and source code and background information about CUPL and CORC.