From: Paul Winalski <paul.winalski@gmail.com>
To: tuhs@tuhs.org
Subject: [TUHS] Re: Does anybody know the etymology of the term "word" as in collection of bits?
Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2022 11:49:44 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <CABH=_VSXWbLfPoX6q=hnYyK800fBVvgB9GjkSNRTmVi50SBJHw@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20220909000016.GC94367@eureka.lemis.com>
The IBM 1620 had an unusual architecture in that it did decimal
arithmetic operating on variable-length strings of BCD-encoded decimal
digits. It thus didn't really have a word length at all. It also
didn't have a proper ALU--it did arithmetic by table lookup. The
internal code name for the machine was CADET, which was said to stand
for "Can't Add, Doesn't Even Try". Arithmetic on variable-length
decimal strings was a feature carried over to the System/360/370 and
also the DEC VAX.
Have there been other commercially sold computers without a fixed word length?
-Paul W.
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2022-09-09 15:50 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 27+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2022-09-08 16:51 [TUHS] " Jon Steinhart
2022-09-08 16:56 ` [TUHS] " Andrew Hume
2022-09-08 17:28 ` Dan Halbert
2022-09-09 0:00 ` Greg 'groggy' Lehey
2022-09-09 15:49 ` Paul Winalski [this message]
2022-09-09 18:44 ` Bakul Shah
2022-09-08 18:20 Noel Chiappa
2022-09-08 19:28 ` Jim Capp
2022-09-08 21:16 Noel Chiappa
2022-09-08 21:24 ` Dan Halbert
2022-09-09 1:33 Douglas McIlroy
2022-09-09 2:12 ` Larry McVoy
2022-09-13 14:23 ` John Foust via TUHS
2022-09-09 2:45 ` George Michaelson
2022-09-16 5:55 ` Marc Donner
2022-09-09 17:26 Douglas McIlroy
2022-09-09 18:46 Norman Wilson
2022-09-10 1:35 ` Paul Winalski
2022-09-09 19:39 Nelson H. F. Beebe
2022-09-09 20:27 ` Bakul Shah
2022-09-09 21:12 ` Henry Bent
2022-09-09 21:44 ` Dave Horsfall
2022-09-11 13:30 Douglas McIlroy
2022-09-11 15:08 ` John Cowan
2022-09-11 15:30 ` Bakul Shah
2022-09-11 15:45 ` Paul Winalski
2022-09-11 16:20 ` Steve Nickolas
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