IBM Basic Programming Support
| Company type | Software package |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Headquarters | Endicott, New York , United States |
| Products | Assemblers, IOCS, compilers, sorting programs, utilities |
| Parent | IBM |
IBM Basic Programming Support/360 (BPS), originally named Special Support, comprised a collection of independent software designed for System/360 mainframes equipped with a minimum of 8 KiB of memory.
Created by IBM's General Products Division located in Endicott, New York, BPS consisted of assemblers, IOCS, compilers, sorting programs, and various utilities, but it did not include a controlling operating system. The individual components were introduced between 1964 and 1965.
Two variants of BPS were available: one utilizing punched cards and another employing magnetic tape. Although the magnetic tape version aimed to operate without a resident supervisor, it ultimately retained a small supervisory program.
Programming languages supported by BPS encompassed IBM Basic Assembly Language, IBM RPG, and a limited subset of FORTRAN IV. The tape-based FORTRAN implementation required 16 KiB of memory. Additionally, the tape version of the BPS assembler offered expanded functionality.
A disk-oriented equivalent to BPS, named BOS/360, also demanded 8 KiB of memory and was compatible with disk drives such as the IBM 2311.
The team responsible for developing BPS and BOS subsequently produced DOS/360 and TOS/360 as temporary solutions when the full OS/360 system proved too large for machines with only 16 KiB of memory.
Together, BPS and BOS facilitated standalone applications on minimal System/360 configurations, including use in the System/360 Work Station, which supported remote job entry to more powerful systems.