MUMPS is a high-level language for application development. It runs in an interpretive environment, is typeless, has powerful string manipulation operators, and is supported by a very effective data access method. As its name suggests, MUMPS originated in the medical community. In the late 1960s there was a push to exploit the new minicomputer technology with interactive database applications to manage the complex structures of medical data. The resulting language and operating environment, the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System, has been successful in a variety of medical and commercial applications and has been revised and standardized. Although most applications run on medium to large computers, MUMPS may be the most efficient language available for multitasked PC-based database applications; it is especially effective for small information management applications (those used by teams of five or fewer people). Vendors support environments for most operating systems. People who want an easy-to-use, inexpensive, efficient environment for PC applications should certainly consider MUMPS, using this book as a primer.

This volume is one of a growing number of introductory MUMPS texts. As the subtitle suggests, it is intended for beginners. It begins with introductions to computers and to MUMPS. The book then goes into detail about the language, covering one class of feature per chapter until it gets to the data structures. The author then goes into some advanced properties of the language and discusses some of the variations among the different vendors’ products. (All vendors conform to a standard that does not prescribe systems-level syntax for operations such as storing or editing a program. Vendor specifics seldom affect the operational programs, and one can usually convert a complex application from one vendor’s product to another’s in a matter of hours.)

MUMPS is easy to learn, especially in an interactive environment. This book was designed for classroom use. It includes exercises with selected answers as well as a chapter containing an application example. The material is very easy to follow, and it could be used as a self-study guide to MUMPS. As a language, MUMPS is outside the mainstream of computer science. Some people in the MUMPS community are trying to change this. The primary audience for this book, however, is the new MUMPS user.