Guide to the Mark Halpern papers
Finding aid prepared by Bo Doub, Kim Hayden, and Sara Chabino Lott
Processing of this collection was made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered
through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant.
Computer History Museum
1401 N. Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA, 94043
(650) 810-1010
research@computerhistory.org
May 2015
Title: Mark Halpern papers
Identifier/Call Number: X3762.2007
Contributing Institution:
Computer History Museum
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
8.75 Linear feet,
7 record cartons
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1959-1973
Date (inclusive): 1955-1990
Abstract: The Mark Halpern papers consists of technical papers and reports, conference proceedings, manuals, the majority of which were
published by IBM, and periodicals that document programming languages and computer technologies from 1955 through 1990, with
the bulk of the material from 1959 to 1973. Included in the collection are papers authored by Halpern and others about programming
languages, computing, and military electronics.
languages: The collection is almost entirely in English. There is one Russian manuscript, which has an English translation.
creator:
Halpern, Mark, 1931-
Processing Information
Collection processed by Bo Doub and Kim Hayden, 2015.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
The Computer History Museum (CHM) can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying
any claims of the copyright holder. Requests for copying and permission to publish, quote, or reproduce any portion of the
Computer History Museum’s collection must be obtained jointly from both the copyright holder (if applicable) and the Computer
History Museum.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of Item], [Date], Mark Halpern papers, Lot X3762.2007, Box [#], Folder [#], Catalog [#], Computer History
Museum.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mark Halpern, 2006.
Biographical/Historical Note
Mark Halpern was born on March 1, 1931 in New York, New York. He received a BA from City College of New York in 1951 and went
on to pursue a PhD in English Language and Literature at Columbia University. However, in 1957, Halpern left his doctoral
program at Columbia to begin work for IBM as a computer programmer. This transition occurred just months after IBM’s Programming
Research Department announced the release of Fortran, and much of Halpern’s training and work at IBM involved working with
this new programming language. In 1961, Halpern left IBM and began working at the Palo Alto Research Laboratories of Lockheed
Missiles and Space Company (LMSC) as the Head of Programming Application Research. During his time at LCSC, Halpern made significant
progress on XPOP, a macroprocessor-based programming system.
In 1967, Halpern was invited to speak at a conference held internally by IBM and was subsequently re-hired by the company
as part of its Assembler Language Department and Mission in San Jose, California. After two years in this position, Halpern
resigned from IBM for a second time in December of 1969 and worked in a number of brief jobs including developing software
for Fairchild Camera & Instruments and working for Crocker National Bank in Data Processing & Systems Administration.
In 1972, Halpern started working at Tymshare, Inc., a company that provided public time-shared computer networking. Halpern
stayed at Tymshare for almost six years working on the development of a "SuperFORTRAN" compiler with its vendor, the Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC). In 1978, Halpern left Tymshare for a job as compiler-department manager with the Western Development
Center (WDC) of Datapoint. Halpern’s last job programming and managing software development started in 1983 with a company
called Dialogue Systems (later renamed Enhansys).
After this job, Halpern shifted his career to technical writing, starting in 1987 as a technical writer for Tandem Computers,
Inc. Since then, Halpern has devoted his career to writing and publishing works on various topics relating to technology and
linguistics including two books, Binding Time: Six Studies in Programming Technology and Milieu (Ablex Publishers, 1990) and
Language & Human Nature (Regent Press, 2006).
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Mark Halpern papers contain technical papers and reports, conference proceedings, manuals, and periodicals written and
collected during Halpern’s career as a computer programmer at IBM’s Programming Research Department, Lockheed Missiles and
Space Company, and Tymshare, Inc. Some of the earliest materials in the collection coincide with Halpern’s start at IBM in
1957, just after the release of Fortran and span the following decades until 1990. The bulk of the collection is comprised
of technical papers, reports, and manuals related to specific programming languages and compilers: Fortran, ALGOL, SIMSCRIPT,
Lisp 1.5, JOVIAL , and many others are represented. A smaller amount of material covers hardware and software technologies
and products from Tandem Computers, Inc. and various IBM computers, including the IBM System/360 and IBM 7090. Also of interest
are conference proceedings spanning the 1960s from IBM Programming Symposia, Association for Computing Machinery annual meetings,
a RAND Computer Symposium, and the National Winter Convention on Military Electronics.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 4 series:
Series 1, Technical papers and reports, 1957-1983
Series 2, Conference proceedings, 1961-1969
Series 3, Manuals, 1955-1987, bulk 1956-1972
Series 4, Periodicals, 1958-1990, bulk 1958-1974
Separated Material
A computer and commercial software were separated from the main collection. The computer is a Poquet PC unit with integrated
display and keyboard, and slipcase. The software includes IBM 709/7090 program analyzer, and Medhalp Archives and Medhalp
Absolute. To view catalog records for the separated items please search CHM’s online catalog at
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/search .
Related Collections at CHM
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Compilers
Computer programming languages
Halpern, Mark, 1931-
International Business Machines Corporation
Macros (Domain-specific programming languages)
Technical papers and reports, Series 1,
1957-1983
Series Scope and Content
This series contains technical papers and reports that document programming languages and the development of computer automation
and word processing from 1957 through 1983. A large portion of this series consists of reports about macros, compilers, and
the development and syntax of programming languages. There are also reports on specific languages, including Fortran, LISP,
JOVIAL, SPL, Pascal, PL/I, ALGOL, and NELIAC. A smaller portion of the collection includes papers about new computing technologies
and documents containing computer industry employment data. Some correspondence is interfiled among the papers. This series
is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
102734146
ALGOL and NELIAC
1960-1976
102734159
Compilers
1957-1977
102734161
Computer industry salary and employment data
1968-1978
102734162
Computing development
ca. 1962-1983
102734142
Fortran
1963-1965
102679239
Fortran assembly program (FAP) for the IBM 709/7090
1961 ca.
102734151
JOVIAL and SPL
1961-1968
102655319
Language debugging
1965-1980
102734157
Language syntax and development
1958-1969
102734139
Macros
1959-1971
102734152
Pascal and Modula-2
1970-1980
102734140
Shadow and related programs
1960-1962
102734148
Zagatasky's "Procedures in Algol-like Programming Language" Russian and English manuscripts,
correspondence
1972-1973
Conference proceedings, Series 2,
1961-1969
Series Scope and Content
This series contains proceedings from computer and electrical engineering conferences held between 1961 and 1969. Conferences
include IBM Programming Symposia, Association for Computing Machinery annual meetings, a RAND Computer Symposium, and the
National Winter Convention on Military Electronics. Of note are the proceedings and preprint papers from the first Spaceborne
Computer Software Workshop held in 1966, which include a paper by Halpern entitled "Standardize the System, not the Language!"
in session four. This series is arranged chronologically.
102734135
Rand Computer Symposium
1962
102734134
National Winter Convention on Military Electronics
1964
102734132
Spaceborne Computer Software Workshop
1966
102655288
Association for Computing Machinery national meeting
1961; 1967
102734131
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) programming symposia
1968-1969
Manuals, Series 3,
Bulk, 1956-1972
1955-1987
Series Scope and Content
This series contains manuals about programming languages, hardware, and software. The bulk of the manuals in this series were
published by IBM and include instructions on Fortran, the IBM 7090, and the IBM System/360. Also included are manuals published
by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc., Fairchild Camera & Instrument Corporation,
and Tymshare, Inc. Some of the manuals published by Tymshare and Fairchild are administrative, covering employee recruitment
and human resources policies. There is a small amount of correspondence, papers, reports, and presentation materials interfiled
with manuals that they relate to. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
102734137
ALGOL manuals
1959-1965
102734154
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) manuals
1964-1972
102734149
Fairchild Camera & Instrument Corporation recruitment manual
ca. 1970
102679237
FORTRAN I, II, and 709: Customer Engineering Manual of Instruction
1959
102734144
Fortran manuals
1956-1963
102655284
IBM 704 manual
1955-08-05
102655285
IBM 7090 manuals
1959-1967
102653972
IBM 7090/7094 programming system: FORTRAN II input/output package
1964-10-16
102653971
IBM 7090/7094 Programming systems: FORTRAN II assembly program (FAP)
1965-04-07
102655277
IBM System/360 manuals
1964-1968
102734147
Information Processing Language V (IPL-V) manual
1960
102655281
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) manuals
1959-1982
102734156
Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc. manuals
1964-1965
102734155
NLS (oN-Line System) manuals
1978
102734158
Programming manuals
1961-1966; 1982
102679238
Programming Systems Analysis Guide: 709/7090 32K FORTRAN
1961
102734138
Tandem Computers, Inc.
1986-1987
102734150
Tymshare, Inc. administrative records
1972-1977
Periodicals, Series 4,
Bulk, 1958-1974
1958-1990
Series Scope and Content
This series contains periodicals that document programming languages and computer automation from 1958 to 1990. A large part
of the series is made up of issues of the ALGOL Bulletin from 1959 to 1970 and the Annual Review in Automatic Programming
from 1969 to 1974. Also included are issues from Machine Oriented Languages (MOL) Bulletin, Information System Language Studies,
Computer Group News, and Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery. Halpern authored articles in some of the
publications, and there is also a small number of clippings. This series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
102734133
ALGOL Bulletin
1959-1970
102655289
Annual Review in Automatic Programming
1969-1974
102655317
Information System Language Studies
1968-1969
102734136
Machine Oriented Languages (MOL) Bulletin
1972-1973
102686000
Publications and articles
1958-1969; bulk 1958-1959
102686009
Windows 3.0 publications
1989-1990
