From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.1 (2015-04-28) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.1 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 84e3352f for ; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 12:45:30 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 29A0DA1DC8; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 22:45:29 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EC4DFA1D3C; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 22:45:01 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 0BB6AA1D3C; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 22:45:00 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (mail.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.100]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id E06D6A1D3B for ; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 22:44:58 +1000 (AEST) Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (tahoe.cs.dartmouth.edu [129.170.212.20]) by mail.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2) with ESMTPS id w72CiuvT028725 (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 08:44:56 -0400 Received: from tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.14.3) with ESMTP id w72CiuoR025025 for ; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 08:44:56 -0400 Received: (from doug@localhost) by tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU (8.15.2/8.15.2/Submit) id w72CiuU4025022 for tuhs@tuhs.org; Thu, 2 Aug 2018 08:44:56 -0400 From: Doug McIlroy Message-Id: <201808021244.w72CiuU4025022@tahoe.cs.Dartmouth.EDU> Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2018 08:44:56 -0400 To: tuhs@tuhs.org User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [TUHS] In Memoriam: Per Brinch Hansen X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" A tangential connection to early Unix experience: My collection of early computer manuals includes Brinch Hansen's manual for the RC 4000, which stands out for its precise description of the CPU logic--in Algol 60! It's the only manual I have seen that offers a good-to-the-last-bit formal description of the hardware. DEC presented something of the sort for the PDP-11, but punted where the woods got thick. When I wanted to know how they computed the last bit of floating-point results, I got no satisfaction. Amidst a thorough description of addressing came this formulation of the actual computation: "form floating point result". Doug