CONCEPT
FOCAL
FOCAL
- FOCAL (FOrmula CALculator) is an interactive, interpreted programming language developed by Richard Merrill at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1968 for the PDP-8 minicomputer family.
- Similar in philosophy to early JOSS and BASIC, FOCAL was designed to run in extremely constrained memory environments (often fitting in as little as 4K 12-bit words).
- Around age 9, I self-taught myself computer programming by studying a book on FOCAL and writing out complete programs on lined notebook paper before having access to physical computer hardware. See Gladstone Childhood, FOCAL on Lined Paper, and the Early Career Arc.
What links here
These facts are as Randal recalls them, but much time has passed for most of this. If you find a factual error, please email realmerlyn@gmail.com.