TOPS-10 System (''Timesharing / Total Operating System-10'') is a discontinued

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

from

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president unt ...

(DEC) for the

PDP-10 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especi ...

(or DECsystem-10)

mainframe computer A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...

family. Launched in 1967, TOPS-10 evolved from the earlier "Monitor" software for the

PDP-6 The PDP-6, short for Programmed Data Processor model 6, is a computer developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) during 1963 and first delivered in the summer of 1964. It was an expansion of DEC's existing 18-bit systems to use a 36-bit da ...

and PDP-10 computers; this was renamed to TOPS-10 in 1970.

Overview

TOPS-10 supported

shared memory In computer science, shared memory is memory that may be simultaneously accessed by multiple programs with an intent to provide communication among them or avoid redundant copies. Shared memory is an efficient means of passing data between progr ...

and allowed the development of one of the first true

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

s. The game, called DECWAR, was a text-oriented ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' type game. Users at terminals typed in commands and fought each other in real time. TOPS-10 was also the home of the original Multi User Dungeon,

MUD A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...

, the fore runner to today's

MMORPGs A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (o ...

. Another groundbreaking application was called ''FORUM''. This application was perhaps the first so-called ''

CB Simulator CompuServe CB Simulator was the first dedicated online chat service that was widely available to the public. It was developed by a CompuServe executive, Alexander "Sandy" Trevor, and released by CompuServe on February 21, 1980, as the first publi ...

'' that allowed users to converse with one another in what is now known as a

chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

. This application showed the potential of multi-user communication and led to the development of CompuServe's chat application. TOPS-10 had a very robust

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how t ...

(API) that used a mechanism called a UUO or ''Unimplemented User Operation''. UUOs implemented operating system calls in a way that made them look like machine instructions. The Monitor Call API was very much ahead of its time, like most of the operating system, and made system programming on DECsystem-10s simple and powerful. The TOPS-10

scheduler A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things are i ...

supported prioritized run queues, and appended a process onto a queue depending on its priority. The system also included User file and Device independence.

Commands

The following list of commands are supported by TOPS-10. * ASSIGN * ATTACH * BACKSPACE * BACKUP * CCONTINUE * COMPILE * CONTINUE *

COPY Copy may refer to: *Copying or the product of copying (including the plural "copies"); the duplication of information or an artifact **Cut, copy and paste, a method of reproducing text or other data in computing **File copying **Photocopying, a pr ...

* CORE * CPUNCH * CREATE * CREDIR * CREF * CSTART * D(eposit) * DAYTIME * DCORE *

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

* DEASSIGN * DEBUG * DELETE * DETACH *

DIRECTORY Directory may refer to: * Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files * Directory (OpenVMS command) * Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...

* DISABLE * DISMOUNT * DSK * DUMP * E(xamine) * EDIT * ENABLE * EOF * EXECUTE * FILCOM * FILE * FINISH * FUDGE * GET * GLOB * HALT *

HELP Help is a word meaning to give aid or signal distress. Help may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Help'' (2010 film), a Bollywood horror film * ''Help'' (2021 theatrical film), a British psychological thriller film * '' ...

* INITIA * JCONTINUE * KJOB * LABEL * LIST * LOAD * LOCATE * LOGIN * MAKE * MERGE * MIC * MOUNT * NETWORK * NODE * NSAVE * NSSAVE * OPSER * PJOB * PLEASE * PLOT * PRESERVE * PRINT * PROTECT * PUNCH * QUEUE * QUOLST * R * REASSIGN * REATTACH * REENTER * RENAME * RESOURCES * REWIND * RUN * SAVE * SSAVE * SCHED * SEND * SET * SKIP *

START Start can refer to multiple topics: *Takeoff, the phase of flight where an aircraft transitions from moving along the ground to flying through the air * Starting lineup in sports *Standing start, and rolling start, in an auto race Acronyms *St ...

* SUBMIT * SYSTAT * TECO * TIME * TPUNCH * TYPE * UNLOAD * USESTAT * VERSION * WHERE * ZERO

History

Release history

The PDP-6 Monitor software was first released in 1964. Support for the PDP-10's KA10 processor was added to the Monitor in release 2.18 in 1967. The TOPS-10 name was first used in 1970 for release 5.01. Release 6.01 (May 1974) was the first TOPS-10 to implement

virtual memory In computing, virtual memory, or virtual storage is a memory management technique that provides an "idealized abstraction of the storage resources that are actually available on a given machine" which "creates the illusion to users of a very l ...

(demand paging), enabling programs larger than physical memory to be run. From release 7.00 onwards, symmetrical multiprocessing was available (as opposed to the master/slave arrangement used before). The final release of TOPS-10 was 7.04 in 1988.

TOPS-10 today

Hobbyists are now entitled to set up and use TOPS-10 under a Hobbyist's License. The easiest way for the hobbyist to run TOPS-10 is to acquire a suitable

emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...

and an operating system image. TOPS-10 may also be generated from archived original distribution "tapes".

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which ...

maintained several publicly accessible historic computer systems, including a DECsystem-2065 running TOPS-10.

Software

Implemented programming languages

The TOPS-10 assembler, MACRO-10, was bundled with the TOPS-10 distribution. The following

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

s were implemented on TOPS-10 as layered products: *

ALGOL ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

, as ALGOL-10 v10B, a compiler used for general computing * APL, as APL-SF V2, an interpreter used for mathematical modelling *

BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...

, as BASIC-10 v17F, an interpreter used for general computing *

BLISS BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...

, as BLISS-10 and BLISS-36, compilers used for systems programming *

COBOL COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily us ...

, as COBOL-68 and COBOL-74, compilers used for business computing * Fortran, as FORTRAN-10 v11, a compiler used for numerical computing The following programming languages were implemented on TOPS-10 as contributions from

DECUS The Digital Equipment Computer Users' Society (DECUS) was an independent computer user group related to Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The Connect User Group Community, formed from the consolidation in May, 2008 of DECUS, Encompass, HP- ...

members: * FOCAL, as FOCAL-10 *

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

, a threaded interpreted language * IMP72 *

Lisp A lisp is a speech impairment in which a person misarticulates sibilants (, , , , , , , ). These misarticulations often result in unclear speech. Types * A frontal lisp occurs when the tongue is placed anterior to the target. Interdental lisping ...

, an interpreter used for AI programming * Pascal, a compiler used for computing education *

PILOT An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

* SAM76 *

Simula Simula is the name of two simulation programming languages, Simula I and Simula 67, developed in the 1960s at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard. Syntactically, it is an approximate superset of ALGOL 6 ...

, a compiler used for modeling *

SNOBOL SNOBOL ("StriNg Oriented and symBOlic Language") is a series of programming languages developed between 1962 and 1967 at AT&T Bell Laboratories by David J. Farber, Ralph E. Griswold and Ivan P. Polonsky, culminating in SNOBOL4. It was one of ...

, an interpreter used for string processing *

BCPL BCPL ("Basic Combined Programming Language") is a procedural, imperative, and structured programming language. Originally intended for writing compilers for other languages, BCPL is no longer in common use. However, its influence is still ...

, a compiler implemented by Essex University

Implemented user utilities

The following major user utilities were implemented on TOPS-10: * RMS (Records Management Services) * IQL (Interactive Query language) * DBMS-10 (

CODASYL CODASYL, the Conference/Committee on Data Systems Languages, was a consortium formed in 1959 to guide the development of a standard programming language that could be used on many computers. This effort led to the development of the programming l ...

Database Management System In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases span ...

)

Notable games implemented on TOPS-10

ADVENT Advent is a Christian season of preparation for the Nativity of Christ at Christmas. It is the beginning of the liturgical year in Western Christianity. The name was adopted from Latin "coming; arrival", translating Greek ''parousia''. In ...

* DECWAR, as noted above *

FORUM Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to: Common uses * Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example *Internet ...

, as noted above *

HAUNT Haunt is a synonym for ghost. Haunt may also refer to: __NOTOC__ Film * ''Haunt'' (2013 film), an American supernatural horror film * ''Haunt'' (2019 film), an American slasher film Music * Haunt (band), a heavy metal band from Fresno, Califor ...

, an early role-playing game *

Mac Hack Mac Hack is a computer chess program written by Richard D. Greenblatt. Also known as Mac Hac and The Greenblatt Chess Program, it was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mac Hack VI was the first chess program to play in hu ...

, a

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

program by Richard Greenblatt *

Legacy

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

was heavily influenced by TOPS-10. Identical elements include three characters long

file extensions A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (e.g., .txt, .docx, .md). The extension indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically d ...

, several standard extensions (for eg. EXE, TXT), the asterisk () as a

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

, the usage of the

slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

() as a switch separator and more.

References

{{Time-sharing operating systems DEC operating systems Time-sharing operating systems 1964 software