Category:FOCAL

From Rosetta Code
Language
FOCAL
This programming language may be used to instruct a computer to perform a task.
See Also:


Listed below are all of the tasks on Rosetta Code which have been solved using FOCAL.

FOCAL (which either stands for Formula Calculator or Formulating On-line Calculations in Algebraic Language), is an imperative, interpreted programming language similar to JOSS. It was first introduced in 1968, and FOCAL-69 was widely used on the PDP-8 minicomputer from Digital Equipment Corporation.

Like JOSS and BASIC, FOCAL was not intended to be used for developing large applications; the manual said it was "designed to help scientists, engineers, and students solve numerical problems." The design goals thus emphasize simplicity and accessibility.

FOCAL could also be used satisfactorily on quite small computers: its interpreter runs on a PDP-8 with only 4k words (6k bytes) of storage and still leaves some space for user programs. During startup, the FOCAL interpreter asks if the built-in sine, cosine, log, exp, and arctangent functions should be kept in memory. If the user answers NO to one (or both) of these questions, memory occupied by these functions is freed and can be used for FOCAL programs instead.

FOCAL commands

To conserve memory, FOCAL commands are often abbreviated by using their first character only, e.g. "T" for TYPE or "I" for IF.

The first two letters of variable names must be unique. E.g. variables named TEST1 and TEST2 would both refer to the same variable "TE" as far as FOCAL is concerned.

Function names start with the letter F, e.g. FSIN() and FCOS(). Appendix D of the FOCAL manual shows how to compute trigonometric functions that are not directly available.

FOCAL always computes a maximum of six significant digits, although more digits can be displayed depending on the output format: "%x.y", x=total digits, y=digits after decimal point.

A program is started with the go (or simply "g") command.

Command Abbreviation Function
ASK A Input one or more variables
COMMENT C Start a comment line
DO D Jump to a single line or code block, then return
ERASE E Erase program or variables
FOR F Run the following command in a loop
GO/GOTO G Start a program, optionally at a certain line
IF I IF statement, go to the 1st/2nd/3rd line given, depending on whether the value is <0, ==0, or >0
LOCATIONS L Show FOCAL memory usage
QUIT Q Stop a running program
RETURN R Return from a DO subroutine call
SET S Set a variable, e.g. "SET A=1"
TYPE T Print a variable/expression/string. A "!" character prints a line feed and a "%" sets the number output format. "T $" prints a list of all variables and their values.
WRITE W List the whole or parts of a program. The whole program listing always starts with the (commented out) FOCAL version number, e.g. "FOCAL,1969".

Running FOCAL in a PDP emulator

There is a tiny PDP-8 emulator in C which also includes a binary dump of the FOCAL-69 punched paper tape image. Note that programs will run much faster on this emulator than on a real PDP-8.

To exit the emulator, use Ctrl-Backslash. The emulator will quit and dump the RAM zero page in octal.

Compiling and running the emulator on Linux (should also work on macOS):

$ git clone https://github.com/JohnOH/embello/
$ cd embello/explore/1638-pdp8
$ make
$ ./p8 focal.bin 
LOAD 0000-7577 CHECK 1153

CONGRATULATIONS!!
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY LOADED 'FOCAL,1969' ON A PDP-8 COMPUTER.


SHALL I RETAIN LOG, EXP, ATN ?:NO

SHALL I RETAIN SINE, COSINE ?:NO

PROCEED.

*W
C-FOCAL,1969
*T "HELLO WORLD FROM FOCAL"!
HELLO WORLD FROM FOCAL

Vector graphics support

FOCAL-11 on a DEC GT 40 graphics terminal can render vector graphics using a display list. A GT40 emulator including FOCAL-11 is available in the PiDP-11 Google Group.

External links

Pages in category "FOCAL"

The following 62 pages are in this category, out of 62 total.