Storage organization in programming systems

Abstract

The system of program and data representation that has been in use on the Rice University computer for five years is described. Each logical entity in storage occupies a block of consecutive memory locations. Each block is labeled by a codeword and may contain a program, a data vector, or codewords which in turn label blocks to form arrays. This storage arrangement is discussed with its realized advantages in programming systems: simplicity of programmed addressing, flexibility of data structures, efficiency of memory utilization, variability of system composition during execution, means of linkage between programs and from programs to data, and basis for storage protection. The application of labeled blocks may be extended to areas of time-sharing and multi-media storage control. On the basis of experience at Rice, some ideas on such extensions are presented.