View source for DIBOL

'''DIBOL''' was a [[programming language]] created by [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] in the late 1960's for business [[application]]s.

At a high level, it is vaguely reminiscent of [[COBOL]], as it has a 'Data Division' and a 'Procedure Division'; the syntax is closer to [[FORTRAN]], but with [[control flow|block structure]] (with 'BEGIN' and 'END' statements). It has 'internal' and 'external' [[subroutine]]s (the former without [[argument]]s, the latter with), and support for [[file]] operations.

The original version was for the [[PDP-8 family]]; there was sufficient interest that in 1971 a team produced a better [[compiler]] and [[interpreter]]. A [[time-sharing]] [[operating system]] allowed several users to run DIBOL applications simultaneously (in the same way that early versions of [[RSTS]] provided time-sharing for [[BASIC]] users on machines without [[hardware]] support for time-sharing).

In the mid-70's a version was produced for the [[PDP-11]]; DIBOL was eventually made available under [[RSTS/E]], and later under [[RSX-11M-PLUS]]. It was also made available on the [[VAX]].

DIBOL-32 runs on VAX/VMS systems, although it can also be used on other systems through emulators.

A Programming self-instrucion manual: [https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_decpdp8dibogrammingASelfInstructionManualSep1970_3617766 Dibol Programming A Self Instruction Manual DEC PDP-8/1 ] 

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[[Category: Languages]]