PDP-10 REFERENCE HANDBOOK

This handbook is a comprehensive reference for experienced programmers, systems analysts, and engineers working with the PDP-10 time-sharing system, focusing on assembly-language programming. It begins with an overview of the PDP-10's architecture, emphasizing its 36-bit word length, extensive 366-instruction set, modular memory bus, and multi-level priority interrupt system, which enables simultaneous real-time, time-sharing (up to 63 users), and concurrent batch processing. The system benefits from re-entrant software, allowing multiple users to share compilers and utilities efficiently.

The document details the PDP-10's software, categorized into eight functional groups: Source Program Preparation (e.g., EDITOR, LINED, TECO), Language Translators (MACRO-10, FORTRAN IV), Program Loading and Library Facilities, Debugging (including DDT, CREF, GLOB), Utilities (e.g., PIP, CODE, SRCCOM, BINCOM), Conversational Languages (AID, BASIC), Batch Processing, and Monitors. It explains how to interact with the system monitors, including login procedures and device-independent command string formats.

Practical application is demonstrated through two detailed programming examples. These step-by-step demonstrations illustrate the complete software development cycle: creating source files, translating them, loading and linking programs, executing them, using the Dynamic Debugging Technique (DDT) to identify and correct errors, saving core images, and modifying original source files. The second example further showcases advanced operations like detaching from a job, logging into a new one, and reattaching to the original. The handbook also provides a guide to typographic conventions used in console examples.