Symbolic Tape Format Generator

This document provides technical documentation for the "Symbolic Tape Format Generator," a utility program for the PDP-8 computer developed in 1965.

Purpose The program allows users to format PDP-8 symbolic tapes. It is primarily used to clean up or condense tapes by inserting tabs for alignment or removing unnecessary spaces, making source code more readable and structured.

Requirements and Operation

• Hardware: Requires a PDP-8 computer with an ASR 33 or a 750/75A high-speed reader/punch.
• Memory: Uses 4096-word core memory, with the program residing in locations 0020–0665.
• Usage: The program is loaded via a Binary Loader. Operators can toggle specific bits in the switch register to choose between ASR 33 or high-speed I/O devices, and to decide whether to output formatting as tabs or spaces.

Technical Details The manual includes a complete PAL II assembly listing of the program, detailing the subroutines for reading input, formatting, and punching data. It also provides comprehensive flow charts for the "Main Algorithm" and "Read-Line Subroutine" to illustrate the logic used to process symbolic input and generate the formatted output.