Ten15
Encyclopedia
Ten15 is an algebraically specified abstract machine
. It was developed by Foster, Currie et al. at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment
at Malvern, Worcestershire
, during the 1980s. It arose from earlier work on the Flex machine
, which was a capability computer implemented via microcode
. Ten15 was intended to offer an intermediate language common to all implementations of the Flex architecture for portability purposes. It had the side effect of making the benefits of that work available on modern processors lacking a microcode facility.
Ten15 served as an intermediate language for compilers, but with several unique features, some of which have still to see the light of day in everyday systems. Firstly, it was strongly typed, yet wide enough in application to support most languages — C being an exception, chiefly because C deliberately treats an array similar to a pointer to the first element of that array. This ultimately led to Ten15's development into TDF
, which in turn formed the basis for ANDF
. Secondly, it offered a persistent, write-only filestore mechanism, allowing arbitrary data structures to be written and retrieved without conversion into an external representation.
Abstract machine
An abstract machine, also called an abstract computer, is a theoretical model of a computer hardware or software system used in automata theory...
. It was developed by Foster, Currie et al. at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment
Royal Signals and Radar Establishment
The Royal Signals and Radar Establishment was a scientific research establishment within the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom, located primarily at Malvern in Worcestershire. It was formed in 1976 in an amalgamation of earlier research establishments including the Royal Radar Establishment...
at Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
, during the 1980s. It arose from earlier work on the Flex machine
Flex machine
In computing, there have been multiple systems named FLEX.-Alan Kay's FLEX system:Alan Kay developed his Flex system in the late 1960s while exploring ideas that would later evolve into the Smalltalk programming language.-RSRE FLEX Computer System:...
, which was a capability computer implemented via microcode
Microcode
Microcode is a layer of hardware-level instructions and/or data structures involved in the implementation of higher level machine code instructions in many computers and other processors; it resides in special high-speed memory and translates machine instructions into sequences of detailed...
. Ten15 was intended to offer an intermediate language common to all implementations of the Flex architecture for portability purposes. It had the side effect of making the benefits of that work available on modern processors lacking a microcode facility.
Ten15 served as an intermediate language for compilers, but with several unique features, some of which have still to see the light of day in everyday systems. Firstly, it was strongly typed, yet wide enough in application to support most languages — C being an exception, chiefly because C deliberately treats an array similar to a pointer to the first element of that array. This ultimately led to Ten15's development into TDF
TenDRA Distribution Format
The abstract machine TDF evolved at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment in the UK as a successor to Ten15. Its design allowed support for the C programming language...
, which in turn formed the basis for ANDF
Architecture Neutral Distribution Format
The Architecture Neutral Distribution Format is a technology allowing common "shrink wrapped" binary application programs to be distributed for use on conformant Unix systems, each of which might run on different underlying hardware platforms...
. Secondly, it offered a persistent, write-only filestore mechanism, allowing arbitrary data structures to be written and retrieved without conversion into an external representation.