It is a high level programming language which is strictly imperative, with an integrated database system. In general, the syntax was borrowed from FORTRAN, but the data model is closer to LISP. Just as Lisp has a single data type (the list), MUMPS uses the single data type of 'string of characters'. The primary data structure is usually described as multiple dimensional arrays, but it is actually a structure of multiple rank arrays each of which is a multiple dimesional array, laid upon each other. An alternate description is that the primary data structure is a string subscripted tree, with string values stored at the leaf nodes and the interior nodes.
Multi-programming is a form of multi-tasking which is a form of threading.
MUMPS was developed by [Otto Barnett]?'s lab at [Massachusetts General Hospital]? in 1967, originally running on a [Digital Equiqment Corporation]? PDP-8. It is currently available on many operating systems, from MSDOS? 3.0 through VAX VMS through Linux. Depending on the implementation, MUMPS systems may have from 3 to several thousand concurrently active jobs.
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