The Annotated M[UMPS] Standards
Ed de Moel
This document provides an overview of the various standards
for the programming language that is known by the names
MUMPS, M, M[UMPS], DIAMS, ДИАМС,
MUMPS/V1, DSM, ISM, GT.M, DTM, MSM, M21, mumpsv1, Open/M, M/SQL, Caché, FreeM,
CCSM, MGM, M/Global, M3 Lite, UC Davis MicroMUMPS, Kevin O’Kane’s M[UMPS],
Yotta-DB and “Caché ObjectScript” or “IRIS Data Platform”
(and probably more that I don’t remember right now,
please let me know of any additional ones).
The various parts of this document will focus on the standards
for the programming language, show differences between various
iterations of the standard(s), and will provide examples of
the usage of the various language elements.
History of Standards
1977: First ANSI standard for MUMPS Programming Language (X11.1 – 1977)
1984: Second ANSI standard for MUMPS Programming Language (X11.1 – 1984)
1990: Third ANSI standard for MUMPS Programming Language (X11.1 – 1990)
1992: ISO adoption of third ANSI standard for MUMPS Programming Language (ISO 11756 – 1992)
1994: ANSI standard for MUMPS-GKS Binding (X11.3 – 1994)
1995: Fourth ANSI standard for MUMPS Programming Language (X11.1 – 1995)
1995: ANSI standard for Open MUMPS Interconnect (X11.2 – 1995)
1995: ANSI standard for MUMPS Windowing Application Programmers Interface (X11.6 – 1995)
1998: Final MDC standard for MUMPS Programming Language
1999: ISO adoption of fourth ANSI standard for MUMPS Programming Language (ISO 11756 – 1999)
1999: ISO adoption of ANSI standard for Open MUMPS Interconnect (ISO 15851 – 1999)
1999: ISO adoption of ANSI standard for MUMPS Windowing Application Programmers Interface (ISO 15852 – 1999)
2001: Administrative withdrawal of ANSI standards X11.1, X11.2, X11.3 and X11.6
2005: ISO re-confirms ISO/IEC 11756 (language), 15851 (OMI) and 15852 (MWAPI)
2010: ISO re-confirms ISO/IEC 11756 (language), 15851 (OMI) and 15852 (MWAPI)
2013: ISO re-confirms 15852 (MWAPI)
2020: ISO re-confirms ISO/IEC 11756 (language) and 15851 (OMI)
2021: ISO re-confirms ISO/IEC 15852 (MWAPI)
Note: Except for the differences noted below, the ISO
Standards are identical to the ANSI Standards that were administratively withdrawn
in 1998 when the M[UMPS] Technology Association closed down:
- Slightly different Title Page
- No “Committee Statement” in ISO version
- Completely different Foreword
- No introduction in ISO Version for Portability and other sections
- Section numbering runs on in ISO Version
- Normative reference to ISO/IEC 9075:1992 in ISO Version
Note: Care has been taken not to correct any typographical
errors in published standards. However, when it was necessary to create
a consistent spelling in order to allow proper hypertext-linking,
spelling has been “normalized”.
