This paper discusses FORTRAN optimizations that the user can perform manually at the source code level to improve object code performance. It makes use of descriptive examples within the text of the paper for explanatory purposes. The paper defines key areas in writing a FORTRAN program and recommends ways to improve efficiency in these areas.

This investigation dealt with locating and measuring x-ray absorption of radiographic images. The methods developed provide a fast, accurate, minicomputer control, for analysis of embedded objects. A PDP/8 computer system was interfaced with a Joyce Loebl 3CS Microdensitometer and a Leeds & Northrup Recorder. Proposed algorithms for bone location and data smoothing work on a twelve-bit minicomputer. Designs of a software control program and operational procedure are presented. The filter made wedge and limb scans monotonic from minima to maxima. It was tested for various convoluted intervals. Ability to resmooth the same data in multiple passes was tested. An interval size of fifteen works well in one pass.

This problem is intended to be an introduction to the design of a software system which translates PDP-8 assembly language source into it's machine-readable object code. This assembler runs on the IBM 360/50. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic PDP-8 assembly language. For the description and use of this assembler the reader is referred to the PAL-III SYMBOLIC ASSEMBLER PROGRAMMING MANUAL from DEC (order number DIGITAL 8-3-5, Digital Equipment Corporation: Maynard, Massachusetts, 1965.). The Second problem of the study concerns the design of a simulator for the PDP-8 computer.

The objective of this work is to help the faculty, staffs and students of NTSU to use the CalComp plotting facility very easily. Therefore, this work is written in such a step by step and self-explanatory way to help the reader to understand and grasp the essential technique of the computer plotting. Each subroutine illustrated in this work has been run and checked by our NTSU computer-CalComp plotting facility; the results of sample programs and illustrated graphs are believed to be very useful to understand each individual subroutine. Basically, software packages are stored in the magnetic disk of the IBM 360 computer as the standard graphic subroutines. These subroutines were written in FORTRAN IV. The user can write the driving program to call these subroutines and also inputs the desire data to the computer for computation. The results of computation will be outputed and stored in the magnetic tape.

PILOT (Programmed Inquiry, Learning or Teaching) is a simple, conversational language developed in 1969 by John A. Starkweather at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. Originally designed for computer assisted instructional needs, PILOT also has been effectively used as an introductory computer language. The PILOT system developed for the Apple II microcomputer consists of two programs, PILOT EDITOR and PILOT DRIVER, which are written in Applesoft and which use the Apple II disk operating system. The PILOT system was designed to facilitate easy authoring and execution of programs written in an extended version of the PILOT language. Due to the memory requirements of the programs and the Apple II disk operating system, the PILOT system described here should be executed on a machine with at least 32k bytes of random access memory.

Synthetic seismograms are a computer-generated aid in the search for hydrocarbons. Heretofore the solution has been done by z-transforms. This thesis presents a solution based on the method of finite differences. The resulting algorithm is fast and compact. The method is applied to three variations of the problem, all three are reduced to the same approximating equation, which is shown to be optimal, in that grid refinement does not change it. Two types of algorithms are derived from the equation. The number of obvious multiplications, additions and subtractions of each is analyzed. Critical section of each requires one multiplication, two additions and two subtractions. Four sample synthetic seismograms are shown. Implementation of the new algorithm runs twice as fast as previous computer program.

The author's primary goal is to begin research leading ot the attainment of a low cost computer/music system which will allow the composer to write polyphonic music of up to eight voices into a computer through a terminal, and have the music played back by means of computer synthesized sound or by means of a conventional synthesizer controlled by a computer via digital-to-analog converters. The goal system will allow the composer to retreat and hear his product objectively as the painter steps back to review his canvas.

This thesis is a proposed solution to the problem of including an effective interrupt mechanism in the set of concurrent- processing primitives of a block-structured programming language or system. The proposed solution is presented in the form of a programming language definition and model. The language is called TRIPLE.

This thesis compares the file organization techniques that are implemented on two different types of computer systems, the large-scale and the small-scale. File organizations from representative computers in each class are examined in detail: the IBM System/370 (OS/370) and the Harris 1600 Distributed Processing System with the Extended Communications Operating System (ECOS). In order to establish the basic framework for comparison, an introduction to file organizations is presented. Additionally, the functional requirements for file organizations are described by their characteristics and user demands. Concluding remarks compare file organization techniques and discuss likely future developments of file systems.