Filetab
Encyclopedia
Filetab is a decision table
-based computer programming language
.
Filetab has a long history, originally designed in the late 1960s and descended from the DETAB programming. Filetab was developed by the National Computing Centre
(NCC) and originally used on ICL operating system
s such as George 2/3 and VME, but ported to a large number of others.
The original architect of Filetab was Tom Barnard, who developed the program (LITA - LIst and TAbulate) for the Morgan Crucible Company when employed by them as a programmer on an ICL 1902 from 1965-1968. Its purpose was to produce simple ad-hoc reports similar to those created with a plug-board on a punched card tabulator, bypassing the necessity to write an assembly language program in PLAN. It required only a few cards to specify the input and output formats, headings, sequencing and totalling. LITA could not be described as a programming language as it only required run time parameters indicating field types and locations in records and no compilation. In those days there was no concern by Morgan's regarding ownership or copyright when Tom left to further develop the software as Filetab.
Versions produced include:
A Linux
version was produced in 2001.
In 2009 "NCC Filetab Limited" acquired the rights to Filetab from the NCC, but despite the similarity of names the company is not associated with the National Computing Centre.
Decision table
Decision tables are a precise yet compact way to model complicated logic.Decision tables, like flowcharts and if-then-else and switch-case statements, associate conditions with actions to perform, but in many cases do so in a more elegant way....
-based computer programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
.
Filetab has a long history, originally designed in the late 1960s and descended from the DETAB programming. Filetab was developed by the National Computing Centre
National Computing Centre
The National Computing Centre was an independent not-for-profit membership and research organisation that went in to administartion before being liquidated in 2010...
(NCC) and originally used on ICL operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s such as George 2/3 and VME, but ported to a large number of others.
The original architect of Filetab was Tom Barnard, who developed the program (LITA - LIst and TAbulate) for the Morgan Crucible Company when employed by them as a programmer on an ICL 1902 from 1965-1968. Its purpose was to produce simple ad-hoc reports similar to those created with a plug-board on a punched card tabulator, bypassing the necessity to write an assembly language program in PLAN. It required only a few cards to specify the input and output formats, headings, sequencing and totalling. LITA could not be described as a programming language as it only required run time parameters indicating field types and locations in records and no compilation. In those days there was no concern by Morgan's regarding ownership or copyright when Tom left to further develop the software as Filetab.
Versions produced include:
- TABN for ICL 1900ICT 1900 seriesICT 1900 was the name given to a series of mainframe computers released by International Computers and Tabulators and later International Computers Limited during the 1960s and '70s...
series mainframes) - TAB-360 for IBM 360 (also known as DETAB-360)
- UNITAB for UNIVACUNIVACUNIVAC is the name of a business unit and division of the Remington Rand company formed by the 1950 purchase of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, founded four years earlier by ENIAC inventors J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and the associated line of computers which continues to this day...
- HTAB for HoneywellHoneywellHoneywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....
- TAB-11 for RSTS/ERSTS/ERSTS is a multi-user time-sharing operating system, developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers. The first version of RSTS was implemented in 1970 by DEC software engineers that developed the TSS-8 time-sharing operating system for the PDP-8...
on PDP-11PDP-11The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a succession of products in the PDP series. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years... - FTL6 for ICL 1900
- DTPL for ICL 1900 – slightly different to FTL6
- RPL-11 for RT11, RSTS/ERSTS/ERSTS is a multi-user time-sharing operating system, developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , for the PDP-11 series of 16-bit minicomputers. The first version of RSTS was implemented in 1970 by DEC software engineers that developed the TSS-8 time-sharing operating system for the PDP-8...
, RSXRSXRSX can mean any of the following:*RS:X, an Olympic windsurfing class*RSX Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada*RSX, a RISC-CPU from Encore Computer...
on PDP11 - RPL-3 for IBM System 3
- Filetab-D for x86 and PDP11
- Rapid-Expert and expertGenius extended syntax for MS Windows, UnixUnixUnix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
and OpenVMSOpenVMSOpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase... - RapidGen compiler and FILETAB legacy converters for Windows, Unix and OpenVMS
A Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
version was produced in 2001.
In 2009 "NCC Filetab Limited" acquired the rights to Filetab from the NCC, but despite the similarity of names the company is not associated with the National Computing Centre.
External links
- RapidGen Software For Windows, Unix and OpenVMS versions of Filetab development tools