An easily extendable interpreter comprising MCA and CAMAC commands

Abstract

A BASIC interpreter is a useful tool for writing small programs in a quick and easy way. For the control of experiments, however, it lacks a number of essential features. A BASIC-like command interpreter BACO has therefore been developed. It runs on PDP-11 computers with the RSX-11M operating system. Its major advantages over BASIC are: (1) new FORTRAN routines can be implemented simply, and (2) interrupts can be processed at interpreter level.

As an application the implementation is described of routines to control a CAMAC system and of a multichannel analyzer simulation. The CAMAC commands follow the line proposed by the ESONE committee. Since an interpreter is inherently rather slow, the commands are intended for moderately fast data transfer and interrupt handling, which suffices for the control of many experiments.