Massachusetts Computer Associates (originally just Computer Associates), also known as COMPASS, was a software company founded by Thomas Edward Cheatham Jr. and based in Wakefield, Massachusetts from approximately 1961 to 1991, focusing primarily on programming language design and implementation, especially source-to-source transformation.
Many well-known computer scientist were employed by, or consulted for, COMPASS at some point in their careers, including Michael J. Fischer, Stephen Warshall, Robert W. Floyd, and Leslie Lamport.
[2] Some of the systems they worked on include AMBIT/G[3] and IVTRAN, a Fortran compiler for the ILLIAC IV.
[5][2] The original vectorizing compiler for the ILLIAC IV was written at COMPASS[6] with contributions by Lamport, who worked there part-time.
[8] Applied Data Research (ADR) bought Massachusetts Computer Associates in the late 1960s.