M-1130 InstrTstPgms Oct61

This permanent memorandum (M1130), dated October 4, 1961, is addressed to PDP-1 Technicians. It provides a series of small diagnostic routines, or test programs, designed to check the functionality of memory reference and augmented instructions for the PDP-1 computer.

Each routine is written following the program format specified for PDP-1 maintenance programs (as referenced in memo 1127). The tests are structured sequentially, beginning with a basic set of instructions assumed to be working, and then branching out to analyze other instructions within the machine.

Operating instructions dictate that sense switch #1 must be off to start any test. If sense switch #2 is on, the current routine will iterate; if sense switch #2 is off, the next routine will be read in from tape.

The document proceeds to detail ten specific tests (TEST 1 through TEST 10), each including assembly-like code snippets aimed at verifying various instruction sets, such as skip, jump, arithmetic, logical (IOR, XOR, AND), shift, and other data manipulation commands. The memorandum was initiated by Eve Lambert and approved by Benjamin M. Gumley.