[Simh] 101 Basic Games for RSTS/E (was Re: PDP11 on Simh for public access)

[Phil Budne]

Tim Stark wrote:
> There is BLISS source codes for TOPS-20 in pdp-10.trailing-edge.com.

As discussed recently:
http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/pipermail/simh/2018-January/017459.html
There are many BLISS languages!

I found BLISS-11 sources and binaries in decus catalog item 10-325:
directory [43,50325] in (The DECUS catalog numbers are decimal,
TOPS-10 PPNs are octal) at
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/decuslib10-04/index.html

I see BLIS10.EXE files on various "FORTRAN-TOOLS" savesets of:
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/FORTRAN-10_V7wLink_Feb83/index.html
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/BB-4157F-BM_1983/index.html
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/BB-D480C-SB_1981/index.html
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/bb-4157j-bm_fortran20_v11_16mt9/index.html
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/fortv11/index.html

Looks like BLISS-36 binaries are there too!!

http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/bls36v42/index.html
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/bb-j939f-bm/index.html

I haven't spotted sources for BLISS-10 (ISTR when the FORTRAN-10/20
project found a bug someone else did a fix, so WE may not have had
them), and I CERTAINLY never saw sources for Common BLISS.

> There is a online version of  The Design of an Optimizing Compiler on CMU website.
(which describes BLISS-11)

> I have a question for you.  Does anyone know any documents to learn how to write BLISS codes?

The printed manual for BLISS-10 (DEC-10-LBRMA-A-D for v4, Copyright 1974).
is available at http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS10/DEC-10-LBRMA-A-D_BLISS-10_Programmers_Manual_Ver_4_Feb74.pdf

A CMU manual for BLISS-10:
http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2826&context=compsci

I have a b/w photocopy of my DEC boss's copy of "BLISS-11 PROGRAMMERS
MANUAL" in a DEC pdp11 (sunset?) cover, Copyright 1972.  The first
page says "The software described in this document is not suppoprted
by Digital Equipment Corporation" and there isn't a DEC part number.
86 pages (without counting the unnumbered pages in front).

Ah! Found this for BLISS-11, dated March 1972:
http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2983&context=compsci
(different than the DEC manual I have, ALL UPPER CASE, less chatty)

Common BLISS was an (EXPENSIVE) PRODUCT, and there *MUST* have
been a slew of manuals for it.  The only thing I can spot in
my list of paper docs is a BLISS-36 pocket guide: AV-AT45A-TK (1983)
which I found here:
http://www.livingcomputers.org/Discover/Online-Systems/User-Documentation/Tops-10-v7-04/6_BLISS-36_Users_Guide.aspx
(not that I ever used it, never mind BLISS-32)

And I found this (1980) combined tutorial/reference for Common BLISS:
http://web.eah-jena.de/~kleine/history/languages/BlissLanguageGuide.pdf

There are some links at the bottom of:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLISS

Slides for an intro to BLISS-32 session from 1993:
http://vms.process.com/scripts/fileserv/fileserv.com?BLISS-INTRO

In line with the original topic, I found printed and on-line
versions of the BASIC-PLUS-2 manual (one manual for TOPS-20 and pdp11!!):
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp11/basic/AA-0153A-TK_BASIC-PLUS-2_Language_Manual_Jul77.pdf