TACPOL programming language
Encyclopedia
TACPOL is a block structured programming language
developed by the United States Army
for the TACFIRE Tactical Fire Direction command and control
application. TACPOL is similar to PL/I
.
L-3050 32-bit minicomputer.
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....
developed by the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
for the TACFIRE Tactical Fire Direction command and control
Command and Control (military)
Command and control, or C2, in a military organization can be defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commanding officer over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission...
application. TACPOL is similar to PL/I
PL/I
PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language designed for scientific, engineering, business and systems programming applications...
.
Data types
TACPOL supports fixed-point numeric data, character, and bit data. There is no support for floating point numeric data or for pointers. Arrays may have up to three dimensions, but dynamic bounds are not permitted. Additional types are records (called groups), tables, and overlay facilities.Control Structures
Control structures include IF-THEN-ELSE, iteration, WHILE and CASE statements.Procedures
Procedures may have value parameters, quantity parameters - by reference without type-checking, parameterless procedure and label parameters.Implementations
The TACPOL compiler ran on and generated code for the AN/GYK-12, a militarized version of the Litton IndustriesLitton Industries
Named after inventor Charles Litton, Sr., Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States, bought by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2001.-History:...
L-3050 32-bit minicomputer.
Negative features
- "TACPOL has a large number of special language features which were included for reasons of efficiency because the inclusion of corresponding cleanly designed general purpose features was not properly understood."
- "Cost per instruction of TACPOL [is] higher than language used for other military computers."