CRMS APL Archive

Paul McJones, editor
paul@mcjones.org

2 July 2025

Abstract

This is an archive of scanned copies of most of the known records from the CRMS APL project, which took place at the Center for Research in Management Science (CRMS) of the University of California, Berkeley, between 1972 and 1976. CRMS pioneered the use of interactive computerized multiperson simulation experiments for social science research. The facility, referred to as the Management Science Laboratory, was conceived by Professor Austin Hoggatt. The original computer system was based on linked DEC PDP-5 and PDP-8 computers. That system was replaced by the advanced APL-based timeshared system documented here. For a history of the project, see:

The physical records were donated to the Computer History Museum, Acquisition #2025.0092.

Archived documents and source listings

The order is chronological within each subsection.

Hardware

[HoEsWh1969]
Austin C. Hoggatt, Joseph Esherick and John T. Wheeler. A Laboratory to Facilitate Computer-Controlled Behavioral Experiments. Administrative Science Quarterly, Volume 14, Number 2, June 1969, pages 202–207. JSTOR Also: Reprint No. 88, Center for Research in Management Science. 196906xx-ach_je_jtw-laboratory_to_facilitate.pdf
[DSC1970]
Digital Scientific Corporation. The META 4 Series 16 Computer System: Preliminary System Manual. Publication No. 7006MO, June 1970. PDF at bitsavers.org
[Gre1972]
Mark L. Greenberg. Disk Interface and Controller Reference Manual. Technical Document, Systems Group, Center for Research in Management Science, 12 July 1972. 19720712-mlg-disk_io
[Mo1972]
George Morrow. Serial Line Input/Output System. Systems Group, Center for Research in Management Science, 24 July 1972. 19720724-gcm-serial_line_io

Microcode

Documents

[GraGre1971]
Charles A. Grant and Mark L. Greenberg. The Uses of a Microprocessor in an Interactive Computing System. 4th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, January 12-14, 1971. 19710100-cag_mlg-uses_of_a_microprocessor
[Mc1972a]
Paul McJones. Meta APL Floating-Point Arithmetic. 13 June 1972. Design notes. 19720613-prm-meta_apl_floating_point_arith
[Mc1972b]
Paul McJones. Preliminary Reference Manual for the CRMS System APL Processor. Technical Document, Systems Group, Center for Research in Management Science, 12 July 1972. 19720712-prm-prelim_crms_apl_proc_ref
[Mc1973c]
Paul McJones. CRMS APL Processor Reference Manual. Technical Document, Systems Group, Center for Research in Management Science, 2 February 1973.
[Gra197x]
[Charles Grant?] Instruction Processing Unit for the SIMPLE Object Language. Cited by [Gre1975]; earlier title SIMPLE Instruction Processing Unit Reference Manual cited by [Gre1973] but no copy of either is known.

Source code

[Mc1973a]
Paul McJones. APL\META 4 Microcode. Digital Scientific META 4 Series 16 assembly language. 28 January 1973. See also Appendix 3. 19730128-prm-crms_apl_proc_microcode
[Mc1973b]
Paul McJones. Test programs for CRMS APL Processor. NARP assembly language for SDS-940. MACAPL: MACRO package for META-APL assemblies, facilitating creating programs to be executed by the CRMS APL Processor; TPFACT: Recursive factorial function; TPIDX: Exercise various index-related operations; TPREF: Exercise memory references; TPARITH: Exercise arithmetic. 19730128-prm-crms_apl_proc_tests

System Software

Documents

[Re1972a]
David Redell. Interprocess Communication. Working Document, 20 July 1972. 19720720-ddr-interprocess_communication
[Re1972b]
David Redell. CRMS APL/SIMPLE Integrated Language Processing System: Design Considerations. 22 July 1972. 19720722-ddr-integrated_lang_sys
[Gre1973]
Mark Greenberg. SIMPLE Language Specification Reference Manual. Technical Document R1, Systems Groups, Center for Research in Management Science. 26 July 1973; revised 5 September 1973. 19730726-mlg-simple_lang_ref
[Mc1972c]
Paul McJones. CRMS APL Syntax. 30 October 1972. 19721030-prm-crms_apl_syntax
[Re1972c]
David Redell. [Unpublished process design notes.] Undated and various June-October 1972. 197210xx-ddr-process_design_notes
[ReMc1972]
David Redell and Paul McJones. CRMS Process Synchronization Mechanism. 11 November 1972. 19721111-ddr_prm-crms_process_sync
[Re1972d]
David Redell. Language System: Interim Command Language. 5 December 1972. 19721205-ddr-interim_cmd_lang
[Re1973a]
David Redell. Preliminary Language System User Manual. 2 February 1973.
[Mc1973d]
Paul McJones. Some Failings of APL. 2 March 1973. Written shortly after leaving the project. 19730302-prm-some_failings_of_apl
[Re1973c]
David Redell. External and internal character codes. 13 September 1973. (Exernal character codes were ASCII; internal codes were "rotated ASCII": (code-32) mod 128.) 19730913-ddr-char_codes
[GraGreRe1974]
Charles A. Grant, Mark L. Greenberg, and David D. Redell. A computer system providing microcoded APL. Research Report LR-24, Management Science Laboratory, Center for Research in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley. January 1974. Also published in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on APL (APL '74). Association for Computing Machinery, pages 173–179. 19740100-cag_mlg_ddr-sys_providing_microcoded_apl.pdf
[GraMc1974]
Charles Grant and Paul McJones. [Example of floating-point rounding. Circa 1974] 1974xxxx-cag-prm-rounding
[Gl1974]
Paul Glassco. Claims Manager. Technical Document, Systems Group, Center for Research in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley, 5 July 1974. 19740605-pag-claims_manager
[GeeEtAl1974]
Paul Gee, Wiley Greiner, Sheldon Linker, and David Redell. Writing Behavioral Experiments in CRMS APL: Programmer's Manual (Preliminary Version). Technical Document, Systems Group, Technical Document, Center for Research in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley. July 15, 1974.
[Re1974
David Redell. Proposal for Final CRMS APL Interface — APL Subcommittee. 6 August 1974. 19740806-ddr-proposal_for_final_apl_interface
[Li1974a]
Sheldon Linker. APLOT: APL Functions for Plotting on DTC Terminals. Technical Document, Systems Group, Center for Research in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley, 21 August 1974. 19740821-sol-aplot_apl_plotting functions
[Li1974b]
Sheldon Linker. Memo to Wiley Greiner and Mark Greenberg. Undated (circa fall 1974). Handwritten. Suggests performance optimizations to system software and Little University simulation. 197411xx-sol-memo_to_wsg_mlg
[HoBa1975]
Austin C. Hoggatt and F. E. Balderston. Task Force Subcommittees for CRMS Laboratory Functions. 13 February 1975. The cover letter provides motivation for the task force. 19750213-ach_feb-task_force_memo
[Gre1975]
Mark Greenberg. SIMPLE Language System Terminal Commands Reference Manual. Technical Document, Systems Group, Center for Research in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley, May 1975. [Gre1973] cites SIMPLE Interactive Language System Reference Manual, presumably an earlier version. 97505xx-mlg-simple_lang_sys_terminal_cmds
[Grei1975]
Wiley Greiner. Scalar Functions: An APL Analysis of the Vertical and Horizontal Implementations. Master's Thesis, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, 12 June 1975. 19750612-wsg-thesis_scalar_functions
[Ba1975]
F. E. Balderston. Memo to Wiley Greiner. 26 June 1975. Approves Hoggatt's recommendation that Greiner's "thesis on APL implementation be processed on the RUNOFF system in the Laboratory and that it be included in the Laboratory Technical Report series." 19750626-feb-memo_to_wsg

Source code

[Xx1974a]
?. SIMPLE Interactive Language System source. SIMPLE source code. Undated, circa 1974. 1974000-xxx-simple_language_system_source
[Xx1974b]
?. APL Runtime Supervisor source. SIMPLE source code. Undated, circa 1974. 19740000-xxx-apl_runtime_supervisor_source

Applications

Mark B. Garman

(Garman was assisted by Robert Gray, Michael Megas, George Morrow, and Jeffrey Moore.)

[Ga1969]
[Mark B. Garman.] Experimental Stock Market Instructions. 20 August 1969. An early sketch of what became Trading Floor/1. 19690820-mbg-experimental_stock_market_instructions
[Ga1972]
Mark B. Garman. Trading Floor/1: A Prototype of an Automated Securities Exchange. Institute of Business and Economic Research, Working Paper No. 7, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley, July 1972. No original copy. 197207xx-mbg-trading_floor_1-working_paper_7.pdf / digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu (pdf page 113)
[Ga1973]
Mark B. Garman. Laboratory Studies in Asset Trading. August-September 1973.
[Ga1974]
Mark B. Garman. "MBA's wanted" poster. Circa May 1974. 197405xx-mbg-mbas_wanted_poster
[Ga1975a]
Mark B. Garman. A Description of an Experimental Securities Exchange. Working Paper CP-372, Center for Research in Management Science, University of California, Berkeley. March 1975; revised October 1975. 19751001-mbg-experimental_securities_exchange
[Ga1975b]
[Mark B. Garman.] CLAIMS - Experimenter Documentation. Circa 1975? 1975xxxx-mbg-claims_experimenter_documentation
[Ga1975c]
[Mark B. Garman.] CLAIMS Experiment Instruction Manual. Circa 1975? 1975xxxx-mbg-claims_experiment_instruction_manual

Peter Elias

[ElHo1974]
Peter Elias with Austin Hoggatt. "EQUILIBRIA" (A Macroeconomic Computer Game). B. A. 147 Classwork. Working Paper No. 1, School of Business Administration, University of California [, Berkeley] [, 15 March 1974]. 19740315-pe_ach-equilibria
[El1974]
Peter Elias. Some Notes on a Learning Experience. Working Paper No. 3, [School of Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley], 27 March 1974. 19740327-pe-notes_on_learning_experience

Peter J. Blatman

[KiBl1975]
Diana Templeton Killen and Peter John Blatman. A Report on Environment Modeling and Model Pre-Processing for Jason, the Berkeley Robot. Report, C.S. 282H, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley, Winter 1975. No original copy. 19750000-dtk_pjb-robot_modeling.pdf
[Bl1978]
Peter John Blatman. A Feasability Study of a Data Encryption Algorithm for Use in an Electronic Funds Transfer System. Master's thesis, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of California, Berkeley, 12 June 1978. No original copy. 19780612-pjb-study_of_data_encryption_algorithm