View source for FACT (computer language)

{{more footnotes|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name          = FACT
| logo          =
| paradigm      = [[Procedural programming|Procedural]], [[imperative programming|imperative]]
| year          = {{start date|1959}}
| designer      = [[Computer Sciences Corporation]], [[Honeywell]]
| influenced_by =
| influenced    = [[COBOL]]
}}
'''FACT''' is an early discontinued computer [[programming language]], created by the Datamatic Division of [[Honeywell|Minneapolis Honeywell]] for its [[Honeywell 800|model 800]] series business computers in 1959.  FACT was an acronym for "Fully Automatic Compiling Technique".<ref>{{cite book |title=FACT Fully Automatic Compiling Technique |id=DSI-27 |year=1960 |url=http://bitsavers.org/pdf/honeywell/fact/160-2M_FACT_spec_1960.pdf |publisher=Honeywell Electronic Data Processing}}</ref>  It was an influence on the design of the [[COBOL]] programming language.

Some of the design of FACT was based on the linguistic project ''[[Basic English]]'', developed about 1925 by [[Charles Kay Ogden|C.K. Ogden]].

The software was actually designed by Computer Sciences Corporation ([[Fletcher Jones (American entrepreneur)|Fletcher Jones]], [[Roy Nutt]], and Robert L. Patrick) under contract to Richard Clippinger of Honeywell.

== Contributions to COBOL ==
FACT was an influence in the design of [[COBOL]], and is one of three predecessor languages credited in all COBOL manuals.

Several elements of FACT were incorporated into COBOL:

* Defining data as levels, with group items and elementary items.
* Assigning of initial values to data as it is being defined ({{code|VALUE}} clause).
* Specifying a limited list of literal values allowed in a specific field ({{code|88}} level data items).
* A non-procedural report generator based on specifying the appearance of the desired report (Report Section in COBOL-66).
* Qualification of data-names ({{code|IN}} or {{code|OF}} clause).
* Group move of like-named items ({{code|MOVE CORRESPONDING}}).
* Validity checks on procedural statements ({{code|ON ERROR}} clause).
* Built-in {{code|SORT}} function.

== Implementations ==
FACT was implemented in the 1960's, "Five FACT customers are writing all their applications using FACT" and "another dozen Honeywell customers use FACT to differing degrees.",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clippinger |first1=R. F. |title=Fact |journal=The Computer Journal |date=1 August 1962 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=112–119 (118 - ''Experience with the use of FACT'') |doi=10.1093/comjnl/5.2.112 |language=en |issn=0010-4620|doi-access= }}</ref> this included a bank and a [[Logistics|military inventory management system]]. It was being used by Australian Department of Defence in the 1960s and 1970s.{{clarify||Defence was using FACT throughout the 1970s; starting projects to phase it out in the late 1970s that were not completed until the early 1980s|date=April 2021}}

== Sample program ==
The following code samples from the simple payroll application in the [http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/honeywell/fact/160-2M_FACT_spec_1960.pdf FACT specification] show the fixed-form nature of FACT and its similarities with COBOL.

File outlines:
<syntaxhighlight lang="cobolfree">
O   1       RU   DETAIL-FILE, (DETAIL),(D)
O   2             DATE
O   3              MONTH
O   4              DAY
O   5              YEAR
O   6            *EMPLOYEE-RECORD
O   7              EMPLOYEE-NO, (EMPLOYNO)
O   8             *NEW-EMPLOYEE,(NW)
O   9               NAME
O  10               RATE
O  11               EXEMPTIONS,(EXEMPT)
O  12               BOND-DEDUCT,(BONDEDUCT)
O  13               BOND-DENOMINATION,(BONDENOM)

O  30        I   INTERNAL-FILE1
O  31             WORKING-DATA
O  32     11 D     BATCH-SUM
O  33     11 D     BATCH-NUMBER
O  34     11 D     BATCH-COUNT   O
O  35     11 D 1   SUM-OF-HOURS
O  36     11 D     CARDS-IN-BATCH  O
</syntaxhighlight>

Source statements:
<syntaxhighlight lang="cobolfree">
P  85 BOND PROCEDURE.  WRITE BONDORDER AND SUBTRACT 1 FROM NUM.
P  86
P  87 NOTE.  PHASE I OF SAMPLE PROGRAM.  THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES ARE USED TO
P  88      MAKE BATCH CHECKS DURING THE CARD READING PASS.
P  89
P  90 SUMMATION PROCEDURE.  ADD RP HOURS TO SUM-OF-HOURS.  ADD 1 TO CARDS-IN-
P  91      -BATCH.
P  92
P  93 BATCH-CHECK PROCEDURE.  IF BATCH-SUM IS NOT EQUAL TO SUM-OF-HOURS OR BATCH-
P  94      -COUNT IS NOT EQUAL TO CARDS-IN-BATCH SEE BAD-BATCH.  SET SUM-OF-HOURS
P  95      AND CARDS-IN-BATCH TO ZERO.
P  96
P  97  BAD-BATCH PROCEDURE.  REVERSE NEW-MASTER.  CLOSE PAGE OF ERROR-REPORT.
P  98
P  99            L.  PUT ZEROS INTO PRINTLINE.  SET NUM TO 8.
P 100
P 101            BUILD.  PUT EMPLOYNO AND RP HOURS INTO (NUM)TH EN AND EH. SUB-
P 102       TRACT 1 FROM CARDS-IN-BATCH AND NUM.  IF CARDS-IN-BATCH IS ZERO WRITE
P 103       ERROR-REPORT, REVERSE NEW-MASTER, LEAVE PROCEDURE.  GET NEXT GROUP.
P 104       IF NUM IS ZERO WRITE ERROR-REPORT AND GO TO L, OTHERWISE RETURN TO
P 105       BUILD. END OF PROCEDURE.
</syntaxhighlight>

Report descriptions:
<syntaxhighlight lang="cobolfree">
R   1  40ERROR-REPORT
A   2 PAGE-HEADING      HDEJ 2
F   3 BATCH-NUMBER                            24BATCH NO.   ^
F   4 PAGE-NUMBER                 1           43IN ERROR    PAGE  ^
A   5 COLUMN-HEADINGS   HD   3
F   6                                         30EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO.HOURS^
F   7                                         60EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO.HOURS^
F   8                                         90EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO.HOURS^
F   9                                        120EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO.HOURS^
A  10 ERROR-LINE        OO   1
F  11 1ST EN                                   8     ^
F  12 1ST RH                                  14  .^
F  13 2ND EN                                  23     ^
F  14 2ND RH                                  29  .^
F  15 3RD EN                                  38     ^
F  16 3RD RH                                  44  .^

R 101  4OBONDORDER
A 102 BOND-HEADING      HDEJ 2
F 103 BPAGE                        1
A 104 BONDORDER-LINE    OO   1
F 105 M EMPLOYNO
F 106 M NAME
</syntaxhighlight>

Report layouts:
<syntaxhighlight lang="cobolfree" style="overflow:scroll;">
L   1  PAGE-HEADING                 BATCH NO.   ^ IN ERROR   PAGE ^
L   2  COLUMN-HEADING     EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO. HOURS  EMP.NO. HOURS
L   3  ERROR-LINE               ^    .^        ^    .^        ^    .^        ^    .^        ^    .^        ^    .^        ^    .^        ^    .^
L   4  BOND-HEADING       BOND ORDERS  EMP. NO.     NAME           DATE       BOND    PAGE   ^
L   5  BONDORDER-LINE                        ^                ^   ^- ^- ^      . ^
L   6  DEL-HEADING        TERMINATIONS  EMP. NO.   DATE        NAME         BOND CR. TOTALS.. GROSS     TAX     FICA   INSUR    RET     PAGE  ^
L   7  DELETIONS-LINE                         ^   ^- ^- ^                ^      . ^              . ^      . ^     . ^     . ^     . ^
L   8  ERROR-HEADING      ERRORS...    EMP. NO.    DATE         TYPE         PAGE  ^
L   9  ERROR-LINE                            ^    ^- ^- ^                 ^
L  10  TITLE-LINE         PLACE CHECK FORM IN PRINTER
L  12 1PAYLINE                       ^             ^/ ^/ ^                                                 .^     ^/ ^/  ^
L  13 2PAYLINE                                                                          . ^     . ^     . ^     .^      . ^
L  14 3PAYLINE                                    ^        $****. ^                                     . ^             . ^
</syntaxhighlight>

== Sources ==
* {{cite book
    |             title = PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES: History and Fundamentals
    |             pages = 316–324
    |  publication-date = 1969
    |                ol = 5619276M
    |              lccn = 68028110
    |         publisher = Prentice-Hall
    | publication-place = Englewood Cliffs, N.J
    |            author = Jean E. Sammet
  }}
* {{cite manual
    | title = FACT Fully Automatic Compiling Technique A New Business Language
    |    id = 160-2M
    |  year = 1960
    |   url = http://bitsavers.org/pdf/honeywell/fact/160-2M_FACT_spec_1960.pdf
  }}

==References==
<references />
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}

[[Category:Procedural programming languages]]
[[Category:Programming languages created in 1959]]