OT: A bit of background

[PashPaw]

How I stumbled upon this was that I was trying to find documentation on TOPS-10/20's version of AID about eight or nine years ago because it was there and it was a mysterious black box. There was surprisingly very little on Bitsavers (still is--it hasn't changed much although AID is now better documented there) although I was able to look through AID's code and found out that it was a language called JOSS. I began digging around and found some stuff on it on Rand's website--including the Supervisor listing. As there had been no PDP-6 or KA-10 emulators or simulators at the time, I just set it aside as a mental note.

I found out about aap's emulator during its infancy and began typing the Supervisor listing about two years ago. I began taking classes again at the local college (which felt like I was being more talked down to), and life in general got in the way. I haven't had much of a chance to get back to this, personally.

So yes, I've been sitting on this for awhile. I guess I should have brought this up sooner.

[larsbrinkhoff]

Thank you. I don't think the delay is any problem. I wrote to Rand about the project, and I got a reply back from archvist Cara McCormick. She released two documents previously for pay: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM5028.html https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM5044.html And seems to be posivitely inclined to assist us:

…

If you can tell me more about your project and what types of documentation you are looking for, I am happy to help in any way I can.

[PashPaw]

Good! I was wondering who to write to for information. I wasn't sure if it would be for the USAF or RAND.

I'm grateful for everybody's assistance.

[PashPaw]

These are the ones I think should be asked for first:

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM5217.html
https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3863.html
https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P4738.html
https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3485.html
https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R0513.html

[sebras]

I previously found Smithsonian's archive of papers from John Clifford Shaw. This mentions at least two interesting subseries:

• Subseries 1.7: JOHNNIAC Open Shop System (JOSS), 1959-1977
• Subseries 2.1: Related Papers and Reports (RM-Series), 1951-1972

I have sent a mail to the Archive Center e-mail address mentioned at the bottom of the page. In the request I asked if subseries 2.1 contains RM5217, RM5359 and RM5377 since they seem to be referenced the most by other documents. I will try to remember to update this issue if I get an answer.

[PashPaw]

Cool! Yeah, we're pretty much at a standstill until we hear something. I figure that the COVID-19 outbreak might slow things down. The Smithsonian is currently closed until at least early May and I'm not sure about RAND. CHM's closed until early April.

Until we can get anything, we're pretty much non-op or we're going to have to guess how the guts worked.

[sebras]

or we're going to have to guess how the guts worked.

I think this might be the best bet anyway since we have no reason to believe that any other documents will provide the missing pieces.

[sebras]

BTW I just found this information connecting JOSS with ESI implemented by a Dave Waks in 1966 (as documented by Jean E. Sammet in Programming Langauges: History and Fundamentals in 1969), extended by Bob Supnik in ESI-X (once part of Debian) and then resulting in FOCAL.

It seems like Dave Waks is still around, and I took the liberty of contacting him.