Scientific Time Sharing Corporation
Encyclopedia
Scientific Time Sharing Corporation (STSC) was a pioneering timesharing and consulting service company which offered APL from its datacenter in Bethesda, MD to users in the United States and Europe.
.jpg)
Scientific Time Sharing Corporation (STSC) was formed in 1969 in Bethesda, Maryland
by Dan Dyer, Burton C. Gray
, and some of the people who originally implemented the APL programming language
, notably Philip S. Abrams and Lawrence M. Breed
. In 1970, STSC released APL*PLUS, a version of the APL\360 language with many practical extensions oriented toward fostering business usage of APL. Together with I. P. Sharp Associates
, STSC made numerous enhancements to the APL language, such as:
STSC continued to make enhancements to the interpreter, notably improving the performance of many of the primitive functions.
Dan Dyer of STSC and Ian Sharp of I. P. Sharp Associates
jointly received the Iverson Award
for their outstanding contributions to APL in 1985.
The timesharing market started to collapse in the early 1980s, mostly due to the appearance of relatively inexpensive IBM mainframes, such as the IBM 4300, in the marketplace. STSC quickly changed its focus to supply APL services for in-house and the rapidly developing personal computer market.
In 1982, STSC released APL*Plus/PC, which was an extremely successful APL interpreter for the IBM personal computer. In the mid 1980s, STSC developed the APL*PLUS/Unix interpreter, a full 32 bit interpreter which was the basis of further APL development, notably APL*PLUS/386, which was later available for Intel 386 class machines and higher. Arguably, the APL*Plus/386 interpreter fostered the exodus of APL applications from the mainframe to the PC environment, as the hardware and software were finally correctly matched to facilitate a straightforward migration of medium- to large sized applications away from the mainframe.
In the mid 1980s, STSC released an APL Compiler for its APL*Plus add-on for the IBM VSAPL program product. Along with language features designed to profile code execution, this compiler implementation was oriented toward replacing resource-consuming functions in place with compiled ones, leading to overall performance improvements.
By the mid 1990s, the APL*Plus/386 system had become one of the leading APL interpreters in the market, however it did not run under the then-new Microsoft Windows 3.1. Although there were some attempts at Windows interoperability, development on the APL*Plus/Win product began shortly before the APL products were sold to LEX2000. This latest Windows product is the basis for the current APLNow (formerly APL2000) interpreter product line.
Manugistics
continued to own all supply chain software.
History
Bethesda, Maryland
Bethesda is a census designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House , which in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda...
by Dan Dyer, Burton C. Gray
Burton C. Gray
Burton C. Gray was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on April 1, 1941 and died October 27, 1989 in Atlanta, Ga. His father was Gordon Gray and his brother is C. Boyden Gray....
, and some of the people who originally implemented the APL programming language
APL programming language
APL is an interactive array-oriented language and integrated development environment, which is available from a number of commercial and noncommercial vendors and for most computer platforms. It is based on a mathematical notation developed by Kenneth E...
, notably Philip S. Abrams and Lawrence M. Breed
Lawrence M. Breed
Lawrence M. Breed is a computer scientist, artist and inventor, best known for his involvement in the APL programming language.- Career :While at Stanford University in 1961, he created the first computer animation language, MACS, and demonstrated it publicly with Earl Boebert.While getting his M.S...
. In 1970, STSC released APL*PLUS, a version of the APL\360 language with many practical extensions oriented toward fostering business usage of APL. Together with I. P. Sharp Associates
I. P. Sharp Associates
I. P. Sharp Associates, IPSA for short, was a major Canadian computer time sharing, consulting and services firm of the 1970s and 80s. IPSA is particularly well known for its work on the APL programming language, an early packet switching computer network known as IPSANET, and a powerful...
, STSC made numerous enhancements to the APL language, such as:
- []FMT formatting
- []VR and []FX, APL program reflectionReflection (computer science)In computer science, reflection is the process by which a computer program can observe and modify its own structure and behavior at runtime....
features - a file system for storing APL variables outside of the APL environment
STSC continued to make enhancements to the interpreter, notably improving the performance of many of the primitive functions.
Dan Dyer of STSC and Ian Sharp of I. P. Sharp Associates
I. P. Sharp Associates
I. P. Sharp Associates, IPSA for short, was a major Canadian computer time sharing, consulting and services firm of the 1970s and 80s. IPSA is particularly well known for its work on the APL programming language, an early packet switching computer network known as IPSANET, and a powerful...
jointly received the Iverson Award
Iverson Award
The Iverson Award, more formally the Kenneth E. Iverson Award for Outstanding Contribution to APL, is presented by the Special Interest Group on APL of the Association for Computing Machinery . It is presented to a person who has made significant contributions to the APL programming language or to...
for their outstanding contributions to APL in 1985.
The timesharing market started to collapse in the early 1980s, mostly due to the appearance of relatively inexpensive IBM mainframes, such as the IBM 4300, in the marketplace. STSC quickly changed its focus to supply APL services for in-house and the rapidly developing personal computer market.
In 1982, STSC released APL*Plus/PC, which was an extremely successful APL interpreter for the IBM personal computer. In the mid 1980s, STSC developed the APL*PLUS/Unix interpreter, a full 32 bit interpreter which was the basis of further APL development, notably APL*PLUS/386, which was later available for Intel 386 class machines and higher. Arguably, the APL*Plus/386 interpreter fostered the exodus of APL applications from the mainframe to the PC environment, as the hardware and software were finally correctly matched to facilitate a straightforward migration of medium- to large sized applications away from the mainframe.
In the mid 1980s, STSC released an APL Compiler for its APL*Plus add-on for the IBM VSAPL program product. Along with language features designed to profile code execution, this compiler implementation was oriented toward replacing resource-consuming functions in place with compiled ones, leading to overall performance improvements.
By the mid 1990s, the APL*Plus/386 system had become one of the leading APL interpreters in the market, however it did not run under the then-new Microsoft Windows 3.1. Although there were some attempts at Windows interoperability, development on the APL*Plus/Win product began shortly before the APL products were sold to LEX2000. This latest Windows product is the basis for the current APLNow (formerly APL2000) interpreter product line.
Timeline
- 1969 - Scientific Time Sharing Corporation formed
- 1979 - the company name was changed to STSC, Inc.
- 1982 - APL*PLUS/PC launched, one of the first versions of APL on the personal computerPersonal computerA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
- 1982 - acquired by Continental Telecom Inc.
- 1992 - name changed to ManugisticsManugisticsManugistics Group, Inc. was a company that developed and marketed software applications, principally for resource planning and supply chain management, with clients around the world....
- 1993 - initial public offeringInitial public offeringAn initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
- 1995 - the APL product line was sold to LEX2000, Inc.
- 1999 - Cognos CorporationCognosCognos was an Ottawa, Ontario-based company making business intelligence and performance management software. Founded in 1969, at its peak Cognos employed almost 3,500 people and served more than 23,000 customers in over 135 countries.Originally Quasar Systems Limited, it adopted the Cognos...
acquired LEX2000
Manugistics
Manugistics
Manugistics Group, Inc. was a company that developed and marketed software applications, principally for resource planning and supply chain management, with clients around the world....
continued to own all supply chain software.
See also
- ManugisticsManugisticsManugistics Group, Inc. was a company that developed and marketed software applications, principally for resource planning and supply chain management, with clients around the world....
: later incarnation of STSC, which today offers supply-chain software - I. P. Sharp AssociatesI. P. Sharp AssociatesI. P. Sharp Associates, IPSA for short, was a major Canadian computer time sharing, consulting and services firm of the 1970s and 80s. IPSA is particularly well known for its work on the APL programming language, an early packet switching computer network known as IPSANET, and a powerful...