GeezerVison

Concise Command Language (CCL) was the term used by Digital Equipment Corporation for the command-line interpreter / user interface supplied on several of their computing systems; its successor was named DIGITAL Command Language (DCL).

CCL provides the user with an extensive set of terminal commands.^[1]

The first operating system to include CCL was DEC's TOPS-10.^[2]

The PDP-6 monitor came with a simple set of commands. To compile and run a FORTRAN program, one would

1. .R F4  ———  invoke the FORTRAN compiler
2. *DTA1:PROG3=DTA2:PROG3,SUB3A,SUB3B  ———  specify binary output and source input
3. .R LOADER 30  ———  invoke the loader, allocate 30K of memory
4. *DTA1:PROG3  ———  specify binary object to load
5. *SYS:/S  ———  let the loader find the appropriate subroutine libraries
6. .SAVE DTA1:PROG3  ———  write the executable to DTA1

(The .(DOT) is a monitor prompt and the *(Star/Asterisk) is an application prompt)

The PDP-10 monitor (later called TOPS-10) had CCL. Key to its improvements over its predecessor were:^[2]

• multi-step commands: .EX PROG3,SUB3A,SUB3B
  • would check to see if any of the 3 needed to be recompiled (and did so if necessary)
  • run the object program loader (including needed subroutine libraries)
  • start running the program
• advanced command file: .EX @RUNPROG3.CMD
  • would run the command(s) in the .CMD file

The following table contains a list of CCL commands.^[1]