Ref Manuals for MACRO-20 or FORTRAN-20 >= 1985 ?

[hdtodd]

I'm trying to explore the DEC20 extended addressing, but I haven't been able to find a reference manual for MACRO later than '78 and no FORTRAN at all.

Panda has Murphy's doc:eapgmg.mem file as a basic explanation of the mechanism. There are a couple of programs in <sources> that have multiple sections. But there aren't many examples to learn from.

Can anyone provide a reference to more modern MACRO or FORTRAN manuals that might be helpful?

[hdtodd]

Found '87 Fortran at http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS10_softwareNotebooks/vol11/AA-N383B-TK_FORTRAN_Language_Manual_Feb87.pdf

It would still be helpful to have a more recent Macro-20 manual, and even a Link manual.

[rmaldersoniii]

I don't remember seeing anything later for Macro-10, other than offprints from some of the monitor internals classes. There were certainly no official updates to things like the Macro manual.

I would recommend writing to Ralph Gorin at XKL to inquire about an updated edition of his textbook on TOPS-20 assembly language programming.

[brouhaha]

The MACRO-10 manual is NOT a reference manual for the PDP-10 instruction set and addressing modes. For that, you want the PDP-10 System Reference Manual, and the appropriate Monitor Calls manual.

The SRM is known to have some errors in regards to very dark corners of exec-mode programming (e.g., details of PXCT), but is AFAIK very accurate regarding user-mode.

The MACRO-10 manual is just the reference for the assembler itself. The operation of the assembler changed very little after the 5-series TOPS-10 monitor (mid-1970s), hence the scarcity or lack of updates.

The last updated versions of the monitor calls manuals were not available in print from DEC, and were provided as text files in the late TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 distribution tape sets.

[larsbrinkhoff]

Eric,

I looked around for the SRM, and I found this: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS10/1973_Assembly_Language_Handbook/01_1973AsmRef_SysRef.pdf
Do you have a link to a more recent edition?

My main reference is the Processor Reference Manual:
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/1982_ProcRefMan.pdf

[brouhaha]

Yes, I meant the PRM sorry. I think they just changed the name.
I don't remember whether that scan or this one is the more up to date:
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS10_softwareNotebooks/vol05/AA-H391A-TK_DECsystem-10_DECSYSTEM-20_Processor_Reference_Jun1982.pdf
IIRC, one of the scams may not have had the last published updates, and may have been missing a page or two, though they were otherwise nearly identical.

[larsbrinkhoff]

Regarding the topic of extended addressing, there is this summarizing memo: https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/EXTENDED_ADDRESSING.MEM.txt I believe the PRM would be authoritative, but the memo may be complementary.

[hdtodd]

Thanks, Eric. I was mostly interested in how/why to use .PSECT rather than instruction set details at this point.  I found references to PSECTs in the '78 MACRO manual, AA-4159C-TM_Macro_Assembler_Reference_Apr78.PDF, but there didn't seem to be much substance there, so I wondered if there was more later, when the extended address space development really began. I've found examples of extended addressing in the JSYS and Monitor Calls manuals, and those will get me started.   No serious work planned, just trying to understand how it worked.  DDT has some examples, too. So far, @COM/LANG:"/EXTEND" worked nicely on a small test FORTRAN program and failed miserably for one of my old computational chemistry programs.  More exploring ahead.  The "/MACHINE" option to the FORTRAN compiler is helpful for generating assembly-language examples of extended addressing use, too.

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On 1/23/26 9:34 PM, Eric Smith wrote: The MACRO-10 manual is NOT a reference manual for the PDP-10 instruction set and addressing modes. For that, you want the PDP-10 System Reference Manual, and the appropriate Monitor Calls manual. The SRM is known to have some errors in regards to very dark corners of exec-mode programming (e.g., details of PXCT), but is AFAIK very accurate regarding user-mode. The MACRO-10 manual is just the reference for the assembler itself. The operation of the assembler changed very little after the 5-series TOPS-10 monitor (mid-1970s), hence the scarcity or lack of updates. The last updated versions of the monitor calls manuals were not available in print from DEC, and were provided as text files in the late TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 distribution tape sets. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#83 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABJWBXD3ZUFAQ7F2N5KTLSL4ILK5FAVCNFSM6AAAAACSTHEDQGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNJYG44DEOA>. You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[hdtodd]

Lars, I found a '78 version here: https://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/macro.pdf Thanks for the pointer to the Processor Ref Manual ... I've added it to my collection.  😊

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On 1/24/26 2:10 AM, Lars Brinkhoff wrote: Eric, I looked around for the SRM, and I found this: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS10/1973_Assembly_Language_Handbook/01_1973AsmRef_SysRef.pdf Do you have a link to a more recent edition? My main reference is the Processor Reference Manual: https://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/1982_ProcRefMan.pdf — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#83 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABJWBXC6NZ3CPZKAJQFRTZL4IMLFXAVCNFSM6AAAAACSTHEDQGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNJYHA2TONQ>. You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[hdtodd]

Thanks for the suggestion, Rich.  I have a copy of Ralph's book but can't find it on the bookshelf where it should be, and I thought it would predate the extended addressing business.  But good idea to contact Ralph anyway.

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On 1/23/26 9:19 PM, Rich Alderson wrote: I don't remember seeing anything later for Macro-10, other than offprints from some of the monitor internals classes. There were certainly no official updates to things like the Macro manual. I would recommend writing to Ralph Gorin at XKL to inquire about an updated edition of his textbook on TOPS-20 assembly language programming. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#83 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABJWBXEV64RUSNF2TFMCO3D4ILJC5AVCNFSM6AAAAACSTHEDQGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNJYG43TSOI>. You are receiving this because you modified the open/close state.Message ID: ***@***.***>