M/DSM-11/20200521
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From https://www.mail-archive.com/simh@trailing-edge.com/msg08973.html
[Simh] MUMPS, MUMPS-11, DSM-11, ISM-11, etc Tom Morris Thu, 21 May 2020 18:12:53 -0700 On Thu, 21 May 2020 19:53:53 +0100, Paul Koning <paulkon...@comcast.net> wrote: > Along those lines: is there MUMPS-11 anywhere? That's nicely obscure. > Another obscure one is CAPS-11, though that's probably far less > interesting. > > MUMPS was a database system, apparently a very good one. It was used as > the core for ASSIST-11, a telephone directory assistance database. In > other words, the database that 411 operators would consult to answer > your request for a phone number in a second or two. Database lookup in > a million-record or so database, in around a second, on a PDP-11 in > 1978. Nice. MUMPS-11 integrated an operating system, database, and language interpreter (for MUMPS, the MGH Utility Multiprogramming System). It was succeeded by DSM-11 (Digital Standard MUMPS) and then Vax DSM. The core data structure for MUMPS is a sparse array of arbitrary dimensions, so you could say things like set user(80,"name", "last")="Bell" to write to the database instead, just put a caret (^) in front set ^user(80,"name","first")="Gordon". The database was implemented as a prefix-compressed B-tree which gave its speed. MUMPS-11 was a product of the Medical Systems Group (MSG) and the EMS email system was written in DSM-11 by the neighbor Laboratory Data Products (LDP) for their own internal use before it was adopted by corporate MIS. The DECmail product was written in Vax DSM based on EMS, but rewritten from the ground up, by Jerry Melnick and I. As far as I know, the VA's electronic health record system STILL runs on MUMPS. Local company InterSystems which was DEC's primary competitor in the market with ISM-11. It is still owned by its founder, Terry Ragon, 42 years later where he's done well enough that he was able to donate $200M to MGH last year and another $100M in 2009 to establish the Ragon Institute. Not bad! InterSystems has diversified, but I think their Caché database product is still based on the original MUMPS database. More than you ever wanted to know about MUMPS... Tom _______________________________________________ Simh mailing list Simh@trailing-edge.com http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh
