Here are a few references found in May 2024.
Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|
History of IMS: Beginnings at NASA, William P. Grafton, Project Manager
IBM. |
2010 | A short history of the development of IMS focusing on its initial development with North American Rockwell and Caterpillar Inc. to support the Apollo space program. |
IMS: Past, Present, Future
William P. Grafton, IMS Project Manager at Rockwell-Caterpillar. Datamation 6pp from Computer History Museum |
September 1983 | In this article William describes the trials and tribulations of developing IMS for Rockwell-Caterpillar. When the joint project with IBM turned sour due to a conflict of priorities (production system for Apollo vs a product for IBM to eventually market), he recommended that Rockwell-Caterpillar split from IBM and continue alone to meet the Apollo deadline. Subsequently, many of their code improvements were incorporated back into IBM's IMS product. |
Mainframes and the Moon - The Role Played by IBM Mainframes in the Greatest Technical Achievement in the
History of Mankind
Mark Nelson, CISSP®, CSSLP®, z/OS® Security Server (RACF®) Design and Development IBM® Poughkeepsie |
July, 2019 | A very graphically illustrated slide presentation of about 50 slide about the role of IBM's mainframes in the Apollo programme. Mentions IMS being developed to help track the millions of parts needed for the Apollo rockets and spacecraft. |
IMS Primer
Rick Long, Mark Harrington, Robert Hain, Geoff Nicholls, IBM. IBM Ref. SG24-5352-00 |
January 2000
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A 300 page introductory book to help familiarize the reader with the basics of IMS. Much of the original content of this book was in an early IMS manual called the IMS Primer. |
General database concepts, standards, and procedures
IBM Documentation Portal, IBM. Use the page search to find other 'IMS' documentation. |
1974 - 2021 | A comprehensive technical guide for IMS database administrators and programmers. Written as multiple webpages in a hierarchical structure upto 6 layers deep. Writen for IMS version 13.1 |
An evaluation of IMS/VS [Masters Thesis]
University of British Columbia Ref. UBC_1983_A6_7 M54. 114pp. |
December 1982 | This thesis presents an evaluation of the facilities available under IBM's IMS/VS Data Base Management Systems and evaluates it using the categories suggested by the Data Base Discussion Group (DBDG). |
An Introduction To IMS: Your Complete Guide To
IBM's Information Management System 1st Edition (Amazon)
Authors: Rick Long, Mike Harrington, Robert Hain, Geoff Nichols; Editor: Dean Meltz, IBM ISBN-13: 978-0131856714, ISBN-10: 0131856715 |
4 January 2005
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IBM's Definitive One-Stop Guide to IMS Versions 12, 11, and 10: for Every IMS DBA, Developer, and System
Programmer. Hardcover 558 pages.
Available at Amazon USA from $13 used (+p&p - USA only). |
Introduction to IMS, An: Your Complete Guide to IBM's Information Management System
Rick Long, Robert Hain, Mark Harrington, Dean Meltz, Geoff Nicholls, IBM Press ISBN-10: 0-13-185671-5, ISBN-13: 978-0-13-185671-4 |
15 April 2005 | Website provides a sample chapter: "IBM's Information Management System: Then and Now".
Out of print. Click on "Learn More" for the book Content. |
Introduction to IMS, An: Your Complete Guide to IBM's Information Management System
Rick Long, Robert Hain, Mark Harrington, Dean Meltz, Geoff Nicholls, IBM Press ISBN-10: 0-13-185671-5, ISBN-13: 978-0-13-185671-4 |
22 April 2005 | Same book as above but another sample chapter: "Accessing IBM's Information Management System".
Out of print. Click on "Learn More" for the book Content. |
Reports from 2 conferences on Structured Program Design that Martin Jackson attended.
Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|
Jackson on Jackson - Infotech Course SG6 - 7pp
Provided by Martin Jackson of LOLA ![]() |
28-29th October 1976 | This paper gives an account of the course, a summary of Michael A. Jackson's JSP techniques, and Martin’s conclusions and recommendations for LOLA. Jackson structured programming (JSP) is a method for structured programming developed by British software consultant Michael A. Jackson and described in his 1975 book Principles of Program Design. [Wikipedia] His namesake, Martin Jackson worked at LOLA, hence the title Jackson on Jackson. |
Structured Design - Infotech 'State of the Art Conference' - 24pp
Provided Martin Jackson of LOLA |
14-16 February 1977 | This paper gives an account of the 4 presentations given on the different structured design methodologies together with conclusions and recommendations. Presentations were on: 1. Computer Aided Software Requirements Engineering, 2. Functional Decomposition: SADT, 3. Structured Design a la Constantine, 4. Data Structure and Structured Design - the Jackson Methodology. |
The following items, used at LOLA, have been kept by Alan Cooper for over 50 years.
They have been given to The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.
Jim Fothergill provided a scan of his flowchart template shown below. It's in better condition than Alan's!
Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|
IBM System 360 Reference Data card, [The Green Card]
IBM Ref. GX20-1703-9 Provided by Alan Cooper |
circa 1970 | A concertina green card with the System 360 Instruction Set, Assembler Instructions, Codes for Program Interuption, Hexadecimal and Decimal Conversion, Program and Channel Status, Channel Commands, and all 256 codes in decimal order. An indispensible reference for all programmers. This one is showing its age! |
IBM Flowchart Template
IBM Ref. GX20-8020-1 UM-010 Provided by Jim Fothergill |
December 1970 | A plastic template for drawing flowcharts together with its card protective pocket with explanation of the symbols. An indispensible documentation tool for all systems analysts and programmers in the days before PCs and graphics programs. |
The following documents, used at LOLA, have been kept by Martin Jackson for over 40 years.
They have been given to The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.
Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|
System/360 OS Appreciation – Student Notes
IBM Ref. OSAPP, UK Form No. 53-7077-2 Provided by Martin Jackson |
est. late 1970s | An overview course for senior personnel covering: Programming, Task Management, Job Management, Data Management, Teleprocessing, Other topics. Plus c40 pages of Martin’s handwritten notes. |
Operating System Background Notes for Programmers - Student Notes.
IBM Ref. OSBP 100, UK Form No. 53.6811-3 Provided by Martin Jackson |
est. late 1970s | Course covering Review of OS, Data management topics, Linkage Editor, Utilities, Examples of catalogued procedures, Problems. This course focuses on use of the Job Control Language (JCL) |
EA67 Program Design Course Outline
IBM Ref. EA67, UK53-5242 Provided by Martin Jackson |
est. late 1970s | 5 day course covering Structured Design, HIPO, Data Structured Analysis, Software Tools. |
PL/1 ‘F’ Advanced Workshop – Student Notes
IBM Ref. C147, UK Form No. 53-0200-1 Provided by Martin Jackson |
est. late 1970s | 5 day course covering Storage Allocation, List Processing, Area & Offset, Refer, Preprocessor, OS facilities, Compiler Output, PL/1 Internals, Core Dumps, Optimisation; all with practical sessions. |
System/360 Operating System – PL/1 (F) – Language Reference Manual (4th Edition)
IBM Ref. File No. S360-29 Order No. GC28-8201-3 Provided by Martin Jackson |
est. late 1970s | A well used and worn example but looks complete. Before the days of desktop computers, programmers needed to consult paper manuals. Usually, each department had a shelf of manuals to share and it was a regular chore to update changed pages regularly sent out by the suppliers. |
OS Assembler Language Programming – Student Notes
IBM Ref. 2403, UK53-2213-1 & UK53-2214-0 Provided by Martin Jackson |
est. late 1970s | 5 day course covering Assembler Language Techniques, Linkage, QSAM, The Timer, Operator Communications and List & Execute Forms; all with practical sessions. |
Notes:
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The following PL/1 reference manuals were provided by Martin Jackson and Jeremy Leighton from their time at LOLA.
They are editions from 1970 and 1981 but it is unclear why the later item is marked "1st edition".
They have been given to The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.
Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|
PL-1 (F) Language Reference Manual (4th Edition)
IBM Ref. GC28-8201-3 Provided by Martin Jackson |
June 1970 | Only the Cover & Contents have been scanned. The complete manual is just over 400pp. |
PL-1 Language Reference Manual (1st Edition)
IBM Ref. GC26-3977-0 Provided by Jeremy Leighton |
1981 | Only the Cover & Contents have been scanned. The complete manual is just over 300pp. |
PL/1 (Programming Language 1) was IBM's then new high-level applications programming language, a programming language that combined elements of COBOL (Common Business Orientated Language) and Fortran (Formula Translation), a scientifically orientated programming language.
Whilst the LOLA tender document indicated a preference for COBOL, IBM proposed and LOLA stanardised on PL/1 for its applications development. The Applications Support Group wrote a test harness using the PL/1 preprocessor, allowing programmers to test their on-line transactions as a batch program. The Applications and Technical Support Groups also used Assembler.
Assembler was a lower level programming language where one instruction was usually translated into one machine instruction. Systems & Applications Support programmers typically used assembler as this enabled them to manipulate data and systems at a fine grain level, not possible with the higher level languages.
From either PL/1 or Assembler calls could be made to IMS to either recieve or send data to the user's terminal or read or write to the application databases, using a language called DL/1 (Data Language 1).
JCL (Job Control Language) was the language for commanding the operating system (OS) to execute work. JCL was written onto punch cards though it was possible to invoke further JCL in .bat files held on disk, passing run-time parameters.
In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo due to the Yom Kippur War. In preparation, the UK Government prepared for petrol (fuel) rationing. Employees undertaking essential roles could apply for addtional allowance. LOLA's Jim Fothergill, who was then "on-call" duties, has provide scans of his application, the ration book and fuel coupons.
Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|
Petrol Rationing Application Form (2pp), Ration Book (2pp) & Coupons (1pp)
Provided by Jim Fothergill |
19th December 1973 | Date is the date on the Application Form. In the event the fuel rationing was not implemented. |
If you know of any more IMS or relevant references then please contact Alan Cooper at network@ + this page's domain name or via the Contact page.