LANGUAGES

LSE.

The Langage Symbolique d'Enseignement, born at Supélec in 1971 for the "experiment of the 58 lycées" and standardised by AFNOR in 1983. A language written in French words, on a TO2026 cartridge. In 1982 the EPI was already looking to bring it to French micro-computers, and had contacted Thomson.

1*PGCD : EUCLID'S ALGORITHM
10 AFFICHER 'PREMIER NOMBRE : ';LIRE A
20 AFFICHER 'SECOND NOMBRE : ';LIRE B
30 AFFICHER 'PGCD = ',&PGCD(A,B)
40 TERMINER
100 PROCEDURE &PGCD(X,Y) LOCAL X,Y
110 SI Y=0 ALORS RESULTAT X
120 RESULTAT &PGCD(Y,X-Y*ENT(X/Y))

Try it

  • In the machine, choose the LSE cartridge: the machine answers PRET
  • Type numbered lines, then EX to run
  • Without a number, the statement runs at once: ? 2+3 prints 5
  • AP 3:BONJOUR, then EX: also DEVINE, PGCD, ROMAINS, BOUTEIL
  • EDIT opens the editor, with LSE colouring
  • The assignment arrow is typed _ (or <-), power is ^

The language

  • AFFICHER (print), LIRE (read), with formats [/,U,F5.2,3X,'TEXT']
  • SI ... ALORS ... SINON (if then else), as a statement and an expression; DEBUT ... FIN
  • FAIRE 40 POUR I_1 PAS 2 JUSQUA N (loop) and TANT QUE (while); ALLER EN (go to)
  • PROCEDURE &NAME(A,B) LOCAL B: by reference or by value, recursive functions, RESULTAT, RETOUR EN
  • CHAINE, TABLEAU T[10,10], BOOLEEN; ! joins strings
  • SCH, POS, LGR, CCA, CNB, GRL, SKP, PTR, EQC, EQN, MCH, ALE, RAC, ENT, DAT...

The console

  • The two-letter commands of the Mitra 15: EX run, LI list, EF erase, ES renumber, CO continue, RE resume, PO run until
  • PAUSE suspends the program: inspect the variables, then CO
  • RA and MO write a .LSE file, AP reads it back; TA lists them
  • GARER and CHARGER store numbers, strings and arrays in .DON files; EXECUTER 'PROG' chains programs
  • AI lists the commands; RUN, LIST, SAVE, DIR and NC are still the machine's

From which sources

The CII Mitra 15 manual and the text of the AFNOR Z 65-020 standard are nowhere to be found. This cartridge follows J. Hebenstreit and Y. Noyelle's article (Bulletin de l'EPI, 1973), C. Lafond's user manual (1975), S. Berche's LSE/BASIC comparison (1981), Y. Noyelle's "La saga du LSE" (1989) and P. Bourguignon's free NASIUM LSE, which emulates the Mitra 15. The sample programs from these sources are the cartridge's tests. J. Arsac's structured LSE 83 (IS, BOUCLER, FINI) and graphical LSE are not on the cartridge yet.