System software for Soviet computers
Peter W. Wegner, John A. Nestor, Edith Schonberg, Stephen W. Smoliar, Peter J. Weinberger, Gio C. M. Wiederhold, Peter Wolcott · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1989
This report examines the range and capability of system software available for use on Soviet computers, described in translated technical literature published primarily in the period 1984 to 1987. Seven subtopics were selected for study: programming languages, operating systems, networks, software engineering, software tools, database management systems, and artificial intelligence tools. The baseline for this study was the 1984 FASAC report Soviet Computer Science Research (here called the Hammer study) which documented a considerable gap between US and Soviet computer capabilities. This study is narrower than the Hammer study, excluding hardware and theory and focusing on software systems capability rather than conceptual research. The panel intended to evaluate not only system software of Soviet origin, but also system software developed in Eastern Europe for use with Soviet hardware, but found little or no evidence for this expected cooperative activity.