IBM Basic assembly language and successors

Basic Assembly Language
Paradigmassembly language
DeveloperIBM
First appeared1964
OSIBM Basic Programming Support, Basic Operating System/360
Licensefree
Assembler D/E/F/G/H/XF
Paradigmmacro assembly language
DeveloperIBM
First appeared1966
OSIBM OS/VS, DOS/VS, VM/370 and related
Licensevaried
High Level Assembler
Paradigmmacro assembly language
DeveloperIBM
First appeared1992
Stable release
Version 1 Release 6
OSIBM MVS/ESA and successors, VM/ESA and successors, VSE/ESA and successors
Licenseproprietary
Websitehttps://www.ibm.com/products/high-level-assembler-and-toolkit-feature
Major implementations
High Level Assembler

The IBM Basic assembly language and successors is a series of assembly languages and assemblers made for the IBM System/360 mainframe system and its successors through the IBM Z.

The first of these, the Basic Assembly Language (BAL), is an extremely restricted assembly language, introduced in 1964 and used on 360 systems with only 8 KB of main memory, and only a card reader, a card punch, and a printer for input/output, as part of IBM Basic Programming Support (BPS/360). The Basic Assembler for BAL was also available as part of Basic Operating System/360 (BOS/360).

Subsequently, an assembly language appeared for the System/360 that had more powerful features and usability, such as support for macros. This language, and the line of assemblers that implemented it, continued to evolve for the System/370 and the architectures that followed, inheriting and extending its syntax. Some in the computer industry referred to these under the generic term "Basic Assembly Language" or "BAL".[1] Many did not, however, and IBM itself usually referred to them as simply the "System/360 Assembler Language",[2] as the "Assembler" for a given operating system or platform,[3] or similar names. Specific assemblers were known by such names[a] as Assembler E, Assembler F, Assembler H, and so forth. Programmers utilizing this language, and this family of assemblers, also refer to them as ALC (for Assembly Language Coding), or simply "the assembler".

The latest derived language is known as the IBM High-Level Assembler (HLASM).

  1. ^ For instance, see McQuillen, Kevin (1975). System/360–370 Assembler Language (OS). Fresno, California: Mike Murach & Associates. p. 17. LCCN 74-29645.
  2. ^ For instance, A Programmer's Introduction to IBM System/360 Assembler Language. Poughkeepsie, New York: International Business Machines Corporation. 1969.
  3. ^ For instance, on the "yellow card", sixth page of foldout, marked as for OS/VS, VM/370, and DOS/VS: "System/370 Reference Summary" (Document). White Plains, New York: IBM Corporation. November 1976. Fourth edition.


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