The new open‑source primer on GitHub documents the 1976 MUMPS language specification in a single, navigable file. It walks readers through the language’s line‑oriented syntax, terse commands and built‑in hierarchical database, offering a hands‑on tutorial for developers familiar with any modern language. By exposing the original command set, the guide revives a system once used in hospital informatics and invites community contributions.

MUMPS originated in 1966 at Massachusetts General Hospital to let clinicians share patient records on a DEC PDP‑7. Its core abstraction, the global variable, is a schema‑free, persistent sparse array that creates intermediate nodes on first assignment. Modern NoSQL stores like MongoDB and Firebase echo this design, but MUMPS delivered it on eight kilobytes of memory for contemporary research and prototyping.

The primer follows the 1976 Standard exactly, listing all 19 commands, 12 functions and seven special variables defined by the National Bureau of Standards. It includes a compact reference, sample code and a glossary, making the language approachable for hobbyists and legacy system maintainers. The repository now provides a practical way to explore a historically influential yet overlooked programming model.