DIL compiler

The DIL (Datasaab Interpretative Language) transaction management language compiler was commissioned by the Swedish company Datasaab, and was developed and manufactured by the company for the D5 type small (mini) computer. It is one of the successful intellectual export activities of the seventies.

The Swedish company Saab is primarily known for its aircraft and car manufacturing, but since the mid-1950s it has also developed computers for performing aerodynamic calculations. In 1968, computer development and production became an independent factory unit under the name Datasaab. Its most successful products are the D2 mainframe system, which was acquired by Sperry Univac in 1978, and the D5 small (mini) machine family, which was mainly used to control bank terminals and connect them to mainframes. The in-house developed DIL transaction management language was implemented on both machine types.

The DIL-programmed, D5-controlled bank terminal systems and ATMs were widely used both in Europe and the USA. The largest customer was the Nordic Terminal Project (NTP), a joint project of the Scandinavian savings banks.

• The publication entitled Számalk and his predecessors
• Swedish website about the history of the Datasaab company (in English)
• Product information for the D5 family 5030 machine (in English)
• Roland Mellbring's study The Nordic Terminal Project (in English)