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IBM Basic assembly language and successors
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<p>The IBM Basic assembly language and successors is a series of <a href="/facts/Assembly_language/7XuV0cla">assembly languages</a> and <a href="/facts/Assembler_(computing)/7XuV0cla">assemblers</a> made for the <a href="/facts/IBM_System%2f360/7znvpy4K">IBM System/360</a> mainframe system and its successors through the <a href="/facts/IBM_Z/JJX9eAsD">IBM Z</a>. </p><p>The first of these, the Basic Assembly Language (BAL), is an extremely restricted <a href="/facts/Assembly_language/7XuV0cla">assembly language</a>, introduced in 1964 and used on 360 systems with only 8 KB of main memory, and only a <a href="/facts/Card_reader/zql4fN7a">card reader</a>, a <a href="/facts/Card_punch/fP8jcPsT">card punch</a>, and a printer for <a href="/facts/Input%2foutput/WQTE8Jas">input/output</a>, as part of <a href="/facts/IBM_Basic_Programming_Support/gVRNInb9">IBM Basic Programming Support</a> (BPS/360). The Basic Assembler for BAL was also available as part of <a href="/facts/Basic_Operating_System%2f360/8Ue7EE6C">Basic Operating System/360</a> (BOS/360). </p><p>Subsequently, an assembly language appeared for the System/360 that had more powerful features and usability, such as support for <a href="/facts/Assembly_language/7XuV0cla">macros</a>. This language, and the line of assemblers that implemented it, continued to evolve for the <a href="/facts/System%2f370/TRo1jaFw">System/370</a> and the architectures that followed, inheriting and extending its syntax. Some in the computer industry referred to these under the generic term "Basic Assembly Language" or "BAL". Many did not, however, and IBM itself usually referred to them as simply the "System/360 Assembler Language", as the "Assembler" for a given operating system or platform, or similar names. Specific assemblers were known by such names as Assembler E, Assembler F, Assembler H, and so forth. Programmers utilizing this language, and this family of assemblers, also refer to them as ALC (for Assembly Language Coding), or simply "the assembler". </p><p>The latest derived language is known as the IBM High-Level Assembler (HLASM). </p>