Calculaid: An On-line System for Algebraic Computation and Analysis

Abstract

OPS is an on-line system developed by M. Greenberger et al. at Project MAC. The present work provides a powerful and simple way to perform numerical manipulations and calculations within OPS. The program package is called CALCULAID. A method of executing algebraic assignment statements, of which MAD and FORTRAN assignments are a subset, is provided. When this assignment-statement ability is coupled with other features of the OPS system, such as unconditional transfers, general conditionals, and array and function declarations, most of the ability of a compiler language is provided. Because the programs written in OPS are executed interpretively, OPS-3 programs can be changed and re-run immediately, without being compiled. The other elements of CALCULAID are a program for creating multiple linear regression models, rank-ordering and counting data, and finding roots to polynomial equations in one unknown. The applications of CALCULAID to the analysis of a round-robin scheduling model and to a process-control problem are discussed, and conclusions regarding the suitability of running computational programs in an interpretive mode are drawn.