# IBM Basic Programming Support

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{{Short description|Computer programs for mainframes}}
'''IBM Basic Programming Support/360''' ('''BPS'''), originally called '''Special Support''', was a set of [standalone program](/source/standalone_program)s for [System/360](/source/IBM_System%2F360) mainframes with a minimum of 8 KiB of memory.

BPS was developed by [IBM](/source/IBM)'s General Products Division in [Endicott, New York](/source/Endicott%2C_New_York).  The package included "assemblers, [IOCS](/source/Input%2FOutput_Control_System), compilers, sorts, and utilities but no governing control program."  BPS components were introduced in a series of product announcements between 1964 and 1965.<ref name="Pugh">{{cite book|author=Pugh, E.W.|url=https://archive.org/details/ibms360early370s0000pugh|title=IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems|last2=Johnson, L.R.|last3=Palmer, J.H.|publisher=MIT Press|year=1991|isbn=0-262-16123-0|series=History of computing|url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|pp.319–321}}

BPS came in two versions &mdash; a strictly [punched card](/source/punched_card) system and a [magnetic tape](/source/magnetic_tape) based system which, contrary to the stated goals, kept a small supervisor permanently resident.<ref name=SysSum>{{cite book|last=IBM Corporation|title=IBM System/360 Basic Programming Support and IBM Basic Operating System/360 Programming Systems Summary|year=1965|url=http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/ibm/360/bos_bps/C24-3420-0_BPS_BOS_Programming_Systems_Summary_Aug65.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|p.14}}

Programming languages available were [IBM Basic Assembly Language](/source/IBM_Basic_Assembly_Language_and_successors), [IBM RPG](/source/IBM_RPG), and [FORTRAN IV](/source/Fortran) (subset).  Tape FORTRAN required 16&nbsp;KiB of memory.<ref name=SysSum />{{rp|p.5}}  There were also two versions of the BPS assembler, with the tape version having enhanced capabilities.

BPS also had a "disk" counterpart called [BOS/360](/source/BOS%2F360). It also required 8&nbsp;KiB of memory and supported disks such as the [IBM 2311](/source/IBM_2311).

The group responsible for BPS/BOS went on to develop  [DOS/360 and TOS/360](/source/DOS%2F360_and_successors) as a supposed "interim" solution when it became evident that [OS/360](/source/OS%2F360_and_successors) would be too large to run on 16&nbsp;KiB systems.

BPS and BOS could be used to run standalone applications on a minimal System/360. One application was the ''System/360 Work Station'' for [remote job entry](/source/remote_job_entry) to a larger system.<ref>{{cite book |last1=IBM Corporation |title=IBM System/360 Operating System Remote Job Entry |date=May 1968 |pages=75–87 |url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/ibm/360/rje/C30-2006-1_Remote_Job_Entry_May68.pdf |access-date=Oct 12, 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Punched card input/output](/source/Punched_card_input%2Foutput)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/ibm/360/bos_bps/C24-3420-0_BPS_BOS_Programming_Systems_Summary_Aug65.pdf IBM System/360 Basic Programming Support and IBM Basic Operating System/360 Programming Systems Summary C24-3420-0]

Basic Programming Support
Category:Discontinued operating systems

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [IBM Basic Programming Support](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Basic_Programming_Support) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Basic_Programming_Support?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.