An Edsac simulator

by Martin Richards (c) June 2005


This directory contains an interpreter for the Edsac computer that was
built and ran it first program in May 1949. The interpreter is
implemented in BCPL and can be run both under the standard BCPL
Cintcode System, or directly as an executable program on Pentium based
machines running under Linux. To people running Linux with access to
the Cambridge Computer Laboratory cl file space, just type:

cd ~mr/distribution/Edsac/edsac
edsac

For everyone else it is freely available within the standard BCPL
Cintcode distribution:

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/mr/BCPL.html

The BCPL Cintcode version is in the directory BCPL/bcplprogs/edsac and
the native code Linux-Pentium compiled version is in the directory
BCPL/natbcpl/edsac. For easy access to the Edsac paper tapes the
simulator should be run with one of these set as the current
directory. Try. for instance

cd BCPL/natbcpl
edsac
 
or, if the BCPL Cintcode system is installed,

cd BCPL/bcplprogs/edsac
cinterp
edsac

Alternatively, both the BCPL source and compiled versions can be
obtained via the much smaller distribution:

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/mr/Edsac.html.

To enter this vesion of the Edsac simulator under Linux, change
to directory Edsac/edsac and execute edsac, eg by typing:

cd Edsac/edsac
edsac

The simulator will open with the message:

Paper tape: squares.txt

EDSAC Simulator -- Type ? for help

# 

You may now interact with the simulator by typing debugging commands.
For example,

z

will clear all 1024 locations of Edsac's memory to zero.

r

will load the initial orders into locations 0 to 30 and set the
sequence control register (SCR), the multiplier register (H) and the
accumulator to zero. The initial orders were written by David Wheeler
and are the ones that were used in May 1949. They are really cunning
and well worth studying. When entered at location zero, this code will
load and execute a program from paper tape. The default paper tape is
in the file squares.txt which was a program written by Maurice Wilkes.
to print a table of the squares and differences of the first 100
natural number. It first ran in June 1949.  To load and run it type:

c

The output will be:

    1      1      1
    2      4      3
    3      9      5
    4     16      7
    5     25      9
  ...

   98   9604    195
   99   9801    197
  100  10000    199
Successful termination of the program
#

Type: ? to obtain a summary of all the debugging commands available.
It will output the following:

?             Print list of debug commands
123  .125  #1011  #.1011  'c  17-bit constants
123S .125S #1011S #.1011S     17-bit constants
123L .125L #1011L #.1011L     35-bit constants
123F .125F #1011F #.1011F     71-bit 
*k +k -k      Multiply/Add/Subtract constant k
/ ^           Divide/multiply the current value by 10
~             Negate the current value
< >           Shift the current value left/right one place
$<s>          Set the default printing style to <s>
                <s> = b   binary integer
                <s> = d   decimal integer
                <s> = f   decimal fraction
                <s> = i   instruction
=             Print current value in current style
LS LL LF      Change the length of the current value
A H P         Get value from Acc, H or SCR
Ma MSa MLa    Get a 17 or 35 bit value from memory
SA SH         Store value in a Acc or H
Ja            Jump to a, ie set SCR = a
Sa            Store the current value in memory address a
Ia <code>     Assemble instructions into locations a, a+1,...
Tn<s> TSn<s>  Print n consecutive 17-bit locations, style <s>
TLn<s>        Print n consecutive 35-bit words, style <s>
F <name>      Set the paper tape filename
Q             Quit
R             Load initial orders and clear registers SCR, H and Acc
Z             Set all 1024 memory locations to zero
DP            Toggle dump of SCR and the next order
DR<s>         Toggle dump of the operand, style <s>
DSH<s> DLH<s> Toggle dump of H, style <s>
DSA<s> DLA<s> DFA<s> Toggle dump of the accumulator, style <s>
DSa<s>        Toggle dump of 17-bit memory location in style <s>
DLa<s>        Toggle dump 35-bit memory word, style <s>
;             Print requested values
B  Ba  Ua     List, set or unset breakpoints
C             Continue normal execution
\             Execute one instruction

The debugger has a current value which is 17, 35 or 71 bits long which
can be output using the command: = in the current printing
style. There are four styles and these are set by the $ command.

$b    Print as a binary value
$d    Print as a decimal integer
$f    Print as a decimal fraction
$i    Print and an order (only applicable to 17-bit values)

The current value can be set to a constant by commands such as:

123S       Load a 17-bit integer
.125S      Load a 17-bit decimal fraction
#1011S     Load a 17-bitbinary integer
#.1011S    Load a 17-bit binary fraction

If the S (short) were replaced by L (long) or F (full) the bit length
would be 35 or 71 bits, respectively.  If S is omitted a bit length of
17 bits is assumed.

Try typing: 123= 123s= 123l= 123f=

The current value can be set to the accumulator (A), the multiplier
register (H) or the sequence control register (SCR) by the commands:
A, H and P, respectively.

17 and 35 bit values can be loaded from memory by, for instance:

M25     Load the 17 bit contents of memory location 25
MS25    Load the 17 bit contents of memory location 25
ML12    Load the 35 bit contents of memory word at address 12

The current value can be multiplied by a constant, incremented by
a constant or decremented by a constant by commands such as:

*.123l
+1s
-#1011

Note that fractional arithmetic is used. Try, for example:

0f= +1= *1= +1l= *1l= +1f=

The current value can be multiplied or divided by 10 using the
(monadic) commands: / or ^, and the value can be negated by: ~.  The
value can be doubled or halved by the commands: < and >.

Notice that the length of the current value is not changed by any of
these commands. The length can, however, be changed explicitly by the
commands: LS, LL and LF. Try, for example:

.123f= LL= LS= LF=

The current value can be stored in the accumlator (A) or the
multiplier register (H) by the commands: SA, SH. The command S30 will
store the current value in memory at address 30. The size of the
current value is the size of the value stored and must be either 17 or
35 bits.

Consecutive 17 or 35 bit locations of memory can be printed using TS
and TL commands. For example, try:

r           Load the initial order
0TS31i      Print 31 instructions in memory locations 0 to 30
4TL5d       Print 5 35-bit integers from location 4
24t2i       Print 2 17-bit integers from location 24

The command C will cause the interpreter to run the simulation from the
current state until it terminates normally executing the ZS instruction,
reaches a breakpoint, or encounters a fault.

The command \ will cause the interpreter to execute just one instruction
from the current state.

A breakpoint can be set or unset at location 25 by the commands:
B25 and U25. The set of current breakpoints can be listed by
the command: B.

When execution stops at a breakpoint or after single stepping one
instruction, the current state is output.

By default, this is the SCR, the next instruction to be executed,
its operand, the multiplier register and the accumulator.

# \

SCR:   9: 00100_0_0000010000_0   R  16S  // acc >>= 6
  R: 11111000000000010
  H: 00101000000000000 0 00000000000000000
  A: 00000000000000101 0 00000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000

# \

SCR:  10: 00101_0_0000000000_1   T   0L  // mem[0] = acc; acc = 0, long
  R: 10101000000000100 0 00000000000000101
  H: 00101000000000000 0 00000000000000000
  A: 00000000000000000 0 00101000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000

# 

The current state can also be printed by the semicolon (;) command.

What is printed can be controlled by the D command which toggles (turns on
or off) requests to print a value. Both registers and memory locations can
be controlled in this way. For instance,

ds25i     will toggle the request to print the instruction at location 25,
dl4d      will toggle the request to print the 35-bit integer at location 4,
dsaf      will toggle the request to print the senior 17 bits of the accumulator
          as a decimal fraction.

The command Q (Quit) will cause the interpreter to terminate.

The F command can be used to specify a file as the input paper tape,
for example:

F squares.txt  The default -- a program to tabulate squares and differences
F primes.txt   A program equivalent to the one written by David Wheeler and
               run on May 6, 1949 to print primes until stopped by the operator.

The I command allows instructions to be assembled from the keyboard. For
example, try:

rz       Clear the registers and all of memory.
i100     Assemble the following instructions at location 100.
  ys     Round the accumulator by adding 2**-35 (a one in bit 36).
  ll     Shift Acc left by one.
  e100s  Jump to 100 if Acc>=0.
  g100s  Jump to 100 if Acc<0.
         Blank line to exit from the I command.

100t4i   Print the four instructions just assembled.
j100     Set SCR = 100.
.123fsa  Set Acc to a value.
;        Print the current state.
\\\\\\\  Single step execute as many times as you like.

As another example of the use of this interpreter, try:

z        Clear memory.
r        Load the initial orders and clear SCR, H and Acc.
;        Print the current state.
ds25i    Cause the instruction at location 25 to be printed.
b25      Set a breakpoint at 25.
ds31i    Cause the instruction at location 31 to be printed.
b31      Set a breakpoint at 31, the first instruction of the
         loaded program to be executed.
\\\\\\\\ Single step execute as few instructions. Do it about 50 times
         to observe locations 25 and 31 changing.
cccccccc Continue execution a few times.
u25      Unset the breakpoint at 25.
c        Continue execution until hitting the breakpoint at 31.
c        Run the squares program.

q        Leave the Edsac interpreter.

MR 27 June 2005