From: Peter Jeremy <peter@rulingia.com>
To: Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com>
Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society <tuhs@tuhs.org>
Subject: Re: [TUHS] v7 K&R C
Date: Mon, 18 May 2020 18:46:50 +1000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20200518084650.GA78465@server.rulingia.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAC20D2MD0_vzAjjM-gHxeOoG5CwaR-B-u9QhFsfbkuE1-Dtuig@mail.gmail.com>
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On 2020-May-17 16:08:26 -0400, Clem Cole <clemc@ccc.com> wrote:
>On Sun, May 17, 2020 at 12:38 PM Paul Winalski <paul.winalski@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>> Well, the function in question is called getchar(). And although
>> these days "byte" is synonymous with "8 bits", historically it meant
>> "the number of bits needed to store a single character".
8-bit bytes, 32/64-bit "words" and 2's complement arithmetic have been
"standard" for so long that I suspect there are a significant number of
computing professionals who have never considered that there is any
alternative.
>Yep, I think that is the real crux of the issue. If you grew up with
>systems that used a 5, 6, or even a 7-bit byte; you have an appreciation of
>the difference.
I've used a 36-bit system that supported 6 or 9-bit bytes. IBM Stretch even
supported programmable character sizes.
>DEC was still sort of transitioning from word-oriented hardware (a lesson,
>Paul, you and I lived through being forgotten a few years later with
>Alpha);
The Alpha was byte addressed, it just didn't support byte operations on
memory (at least originally). That's different to word-oriented machines
that only supported word addresses. Supporting byte-wide writes at
arbitrary addresses adds a chunk of complexity to the CPU/cache interface
and most RISC architectures only supported word load/store operations.
--
Peter Jeremy
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next prev parent reply other threads:[~2020-05-18 8:47 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 139+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2020-05-15 21:31 Richard Tobin
2020-05-15 21:53 ` Steve Nickolas
2020-05-15 22:33 ` ron
2020-05-15 23:34 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2020-05-16 1:26 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-16 21:59 ` Ronald Natalie
2020-05-16 23:26 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2020-05-17 16:24 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-17 16:29 ` ron
2020-05-17 16:38 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-17 20:08 ` Clem Cole
2020-05-18 8:46 ` Peter Jeremy [this message]
2020-05-19 7:41 ` Dave Horsfall
2020-05-18 12:04 ` Tony Finch
2020-05-18 13:10 ` Clem Cole
2020-05-18 15:13 ` Rich Morin
2020-05-18 15:51 ` Brantley Coile
2020-05-18 16:11 ` Dan Cross
2020-05-18 21:18 ` ron
2020-05-17 16:10 ` Derek Fawcus
2020-05-17 16:14 ` ron
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2020-05-19 12:29 Noel Chiappa
2020-05-19 2:29 Doug McIlroy
2020-05-19 3:20 ` Steve Nickolas
2020-05-18 14:33 Doug McIlroy
2020-05-18 13:58 Doug McIlroy
2020-05-16 18:45 Richard Tobin
2020-05-16 21:55 ` Ronald Natalie
2020-05-16 0:15 Nelson H. F. Beebe
2020-05-16 0:28 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2020-05-16 1:52 ` Warner Losh
2020-05-16 16:31 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-16 20:35 ` Brad Spencer
2020-05-16 20:37 ` Warner Losh
2020-05-18 12:25 ` Tony Finch
2020-05-15 20:34 Doug McIlroy
2020-05-15 20:40 ` Warner Losh
2020-05-14 18:41 Doug McIlroy
2020-05-14 18:45 ` Richard Salz
2020-05-14 20:54 ` Clem Cole
2020-05-15 2:44 ` Rob Pike
2020-05-15 3:57 ` Rich Morin
2020-05-15 7:55 ` Dr Iain Maoileoin
2020-05-15 15:01 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-15 15:36 ` John P. Linderman
2020-05-15 20:01 ` ron
2020-05-15 20:03 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-15 20:05 ` Clem Cole
2020-05-15 20:18 ` ron
2020-05-15 20:24 ` Clem Cole
2020-05-16 0:57 ` Brantley Coile
2020-05-16 16:14 ` Dan Cross
2020-05-15 20:56 ` Steve Nickolas
2020-05-16 0:31 ` Peter Jeremy
2020-05-16 8:30 ` Steve Nickolas
2020-05-16 0:43 ` John P. Linderman
2020-05-16 16:28 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-16 17:39 ` Warner Losh
2020-05-19 19:45 ` Peter Pentchev
2020-05-20 3:52 ` Rich Morin
2020-05-21 15:06 ` Dave Horsfall
[not found] <mailman.1.1589421601.13778.tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org>
2020-05-14 3:02 ` Paul McJones
2020-05-14 17:08 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-14 17:58 ` Clem Cole
2020-04-27 17:45 Noel Chiappa
2020-04-27 17:56 ` Richard Salz
2020-04-27 18:02 ` Brantley Coile
2020-04-27 18:47 ` Derek Fawcus
2020-04-25 19:41 Noel Chiappa
2020-04-25 20:27 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2020-04-25 13:11 Noel Chiappa
2020-04-25 13:18 ` Rob Pike
2020-04-25 14:57 ` Warner Losh
2020-04-25 18:03 ` Noel Chiappa
2020-04-25 20:11 ` Michael Kjörling
2020-04-25 21:27 ` Brian L. Stuart
2020-04-26 0:07 ` emanuel stiebler
2020-04-26 0:54 ` Rob Pike
2020-04-26 19:37 ` Derek Fawcus
2020-04-26 20:10 ` Derek Fawcus
2020-04-26 21:59 ` Rich Morin
2020-04-26 22:38 ` Noel Hunt
2020-04-26 23:57 ` Nemo Nusquam
2020-04-27 3:38 ` Rob Pike
2020-04-25 13:35 ` Hellwig Geisse
2020-04-25 13:59 ` Richard Salz
2020-04-25 19:01 ` Brian L. Stuart
2020-04-25 20:07 ` Michael Kjörling
2020-04-25 21:34 ` Brian L. Stuart
2020-04-26 6:40 ` arnold
2020-04-25 1:59 Adam Thornton
2020-04-25 2:37 ` Charles Anthony
2020-04-25 2:47 ` Adam Thornton
2020-04-25 2:51 ` Rob Pike
2020-04-25 2:54 ` Rob Pike
2020-04-25 3:04 ` Larry McVoy
2020-04-25 3:30 ` Clem Cole
2020-04-25 3:43 ` Larry McVoy
2020-04-25 3:54 ` Jon Steinhart
2020-04-25 11:44 ` Michael Kjörling
2020-04-25 13:17 ` Dan Cross
2020-05-11 0:28 ` scj
2020-05-11 0:32 ` Rob Pike
2020-05-11 0:57 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-11 17:32 ` Greg A. Woods
2020-05-11 18:25 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-11 18:37 ` Clem Cole
2020-05-11 19:12 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-11 19:57 ` joe mcguckin
2020-05-11 20:25 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-12 17:23 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-12 17:35 ` ron
2020-05-12 17:42 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-12 18:36 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-13 23:36 ` Dave Horsfall
2020-05-14 0:42 ` John P. Linderman
2020-05-14 2:44 ` Rich Morin
2020-05-14 3:09 ` Charles Anthony
2020-05-14 12:27 ` ron
2020-05-14 12:27 ` ron
2020-05-14 12:27 ` ron
2020-05-14 7:38 ` Dave Horsfall
2020-05-14 12:25 ` ron
2020-05-14 17:13 ` Paul Winalski
2020-05-14 17:21 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-17 16:34 ` Derek Fawcus
2020-05-14 4:21 ` Greg A. Woods
2020-05-14 4:40 ` Warner Losh
2020-05-14 17:32 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-14 22:32 ` Tony Finch
2020-05-16 23:53 ` Steffen Nurpmeso
2020-05-17 0:35 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-11 18:37 ` Larry McVoy
2020-05-11 2:08 ` Lawrence Stewart
2020-05-11 11:36 ` Michael Kjörling
2020-04-25 3:37 ` Dave Horsfall
2020-04-27 13:19 ` Tony Finch
2020-04-25 2:50 ` Adam Thornton
2020-04-25 5:59 ` Lars Brinkhoff
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