SINTRAN III
Encyclopedia
SINTRAN III was a real-time
, multitasking
, multi-user
operating system
used with Norsk Data
computers from 1974. Unlike its predecessors SINTRAN
I and II, it was entirely written by Norsk Data.
Sintran III was written in NORD PL
, intermediate language for Norsk Data computers.
SINTRAN was primarily a command line based operating system though there were several shells which could be installed to control the user environment more strictly, by far the most popular of which was USER-ENVIRONMENT.
One of the clever features was to be able to abbreviate commands
and filename
s between hyphens, for example "LIST-FILES" when typed would ask you for several prompts including print, paging etc, you could override this using the following "LI-FI ,,n," which would abbreviate the "LIST-FILES" command prompt and bypass any of the prompts. One could also refer to files in this way, say, with "PED
H-W:" which would refer to "HELLO-WORLD:SYMB" if this was the only file having H, any number of characters, a hyphen, a W, any number of characters, and any file ending.
This saved quite a lot of keystrokes and would allow users a very nice learning curve, from complete and self-explanatory commands like LIST-ALL-FILES to L-A-F for the advanced user. (The hyphen key on Norwegian keyboards resides where the slash key does on U.S. ones.)
Now that SINTRAN has mostly disappeared as an operating system there are very few references to it, however a job control
or batch
language was available called JEC, believed to be known as Job Execution Controller, this could be used to set up batch jobs to compile COBOL
programs etc.
There are a few SINTRAN computers still running in a production manner, including one public-access ND-5700 system operated by a NODAF member. They are planning an effort to upload documentation in a publicly available format.
Real-time operating system
A real-time operating system is an operating system intended to serve real-time application requests.A key characteristic of a RTOS is the level of its consistency concerning the amount of time it takes to accept and complete an application's task; the variability is jitter...
, multitasking
Computer multitasking
In computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for...
, multi-user
Multi-user
Multi-user is a term that defines an operating system or application software that allows concurrent access by multiple users of a computer. Time-sharing systems are multi-user systems. Most batch processing systems for mainframe computers may also be considered "multi-user", to avoid leaving the...
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...
used with Norsk Data
Norsk Data
Norsk Data was a computer manufacturer located in Oslo, Norway. Existing from 1967 to 1992, it had its most active period in the years from the early 1970s to the late 1980s...
computers from 1974. Unlike its predecessors SINTRAN
SINTRAN
SINTRAN is the name of a range of operating systems for Norsk Data's line of minicomputers. The original version of SINTRAN, released in 1968, was developed by the Department of Engineering Cybernetics at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in cooperation with the affiliated research institute,...
I and II, it was entirely written by Norsk Data.
Sintran III was written in NORD PL
NORD Programming Language
NPL was a programming language by the Norwegian minicomputer manufacturer Norsk Data. It shipped as a standard component of the operating system SINTRAN III....
, intermediate language for Norsk Data computers.
SINTRAN was primarily a command line based operating system though there were several shells which could be installed to control the user environment more strictly, by far the most popular of which was USER-ENVIRONMENT.
One of the clever features was to be able to abbreviate commands
Command (computing)
In computing, a command is a directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task. Most commonly a command is a directive to some kind of command line interface, such as a shell....
and filename
Filename
The filename is metadata about a file; a string used to uniquely identify a file stored on the file system. Different file systems impose different restrictions on length and allowed characters on filenames.A filename includes one or more of these components:...
s between hyphens, for example "LIST-FILES" when typed would ask you for several prompts including print, paging etc, you could override this using the following "LI-FI ,,n," which would abbreviate the "LIST-FILES" command prompt and bypass any of the prompts. One could also refer to files in this way, say, with "PED
PED (Editor)
PED, the Programmers' EDitor, was a powerful screen-based text editor made by the Norwegian minicomputer manufacturer Norsk Data.Versions were available for SINTRAN III running on both ND-100 and ND-500 architectures, as well as DolphinOS on the Motorola 88000.It took advantage of the special...
H-W:" which would refer to "HELLO-WORLD:SYMB" if this was the only file having H, any number of characters, a hyphen, a W, any number of characters, and any file ending.
This saved quite a lot of keystrokes and would allow users a very nice learning curve, from complete and self-explanatory commands like LIST-ALL-FILES to L-A-F for the advanced user. (The hyphen key on Norwegian keyboards resides where the slash key does on U.S. ones.)
Now that SINTRAN has mostly disappeared as an operating system there are very few references to it, however a job control
Job control
On operating systems that support executing multiple processes in parallel or in series , job control refers to the orchestration of multiple batch jobs.-Unix shell:...
or batch
Batch processing
Batch processing is execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without manual intervention, so all input data is preselected through scripts or command-line parameters...
language was available called JEC, believed to be known as Job Execution Controller, this could be used to set up batch jobs to compile COBOL
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
programs etc.
There are a few SINTRAN computers still running in a production manner, including one public-access ND-5700 system operated by a NODAF member. They are planning an effort to upload documentation in a publicly available format.