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The CSIRAC Program Library
Image: Don Beresford at tape punch keyboard
Source: Museum Victoria
The CSIRAC Program library consisted of tried and tested paper tape programs and sub-routines (sections of programs).
A wooden "pigeon hole" cabinet was located on the program preparation desk in the Computation Laboratory and used as the storage location for the Program Library. The library programs were numbered and stored in individual cardboard boxes. The Library only contained 12 hole paper tapes.
The Program Library was built up in order to make the writing of programs more efficient. The Library consisted of previously written, tested sub-routines or programs designed to perform common functions. Programmers could incorporate copies of required library sub-routines, like building blocks, into their own program. This avoided the necessity of each programmer having to create new sub-routines for common functions every time a new program was developed.
The Library was started in 1956 and was added to on a continuous basis until 1964.
Official CSIRAC Library Tapes were identified with an extra line of holes, and were kept in labelled boxes.
Many tapes were produced by users but were not part of the official Paper tape Library. They were left in the Library Pigeon Holes for convenience. A number of tapes did not have any identification and are listed as unknown. 'T#' was used to identify tapes. The CSIRAC History team in the 1990s found tapes inside tapes; these were given suffixes eg T001.1
John Spencer was creator and sole user for all tapes in the range T800 to T893 (except tapes T807 and T849 to 854 inclusive).
Tapes numbered T>800 are dated 1959-1964.
Programs and sub-routines related to the teleprinter were written up to and including 1960.
Programs and sub-routines related to the flexowriter were written after and including 1959.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 11 - 20) 428 items
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12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Gamma Function, T123, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. This tape has two sub-routines, each a self contained unit designed to carry out a spe ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
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12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Exponential, T121, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. This tape has a sub-routine, a self contained unit designed to carry out a specific ta ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
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12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Logarithim Base Two, T120, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. This tape contains three sub-routines, each a self contained unit designed to carry ou ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
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Paper Tape - 12 Hole, CSIRAC Computer, Tape Symbol Punch (5-hole ), T002.2, 1959-1960
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. The program provided a means of displaying the instructions in a computer program in a ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
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12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Floating Binary. Basic Arithmetic, T300, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. This is a sub-routine, a self contained unit designed to carry out a specific task wit ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
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12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Floating Binary Interger Ops., T302, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. The collection includes the original University of Melbourne Computation Laboratory ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
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12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Bessel Functions, T126, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. The collection includes the original University of Melbourne Computation Laboratory ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Sterling Coinage Analysis, T150, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. This is a program tape. The collection includes the original University of Melbourne ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
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12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Random numbers, T151, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. The collection includes the original University of Melbourne Computation Laboratory ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0 -
No Image Available
12 Hole Paper Tape - CSIRAC Computer, Runge-Kutta Integration, T510, 1955-1964
Paper tape, part of a collection of paper tape programs and sub-routines used for input to CSIRAC. This is a program tape. The collection includes the original University of Melbourne ...
From: Parkville, Australia Images: 0
