From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_ADSP_CUSTOM_MED, DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED,FREEMAIL_FROM,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 31811 invoked from network); 9 Sep 2022 15:50:58 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 9 Sep 2022 15:50:58 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 35617422A6; Sat, 10 Sep 2022 01:50:52 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-yw1-f173.google.com (mail-yw1-f173.google.com [209.85.128.173]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 6194F42299 for ; Sat, 10 Sep 2022 01:50:46 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-yw1-f173.google.com with SMTP id 00721157ae682-3457bc84d53so24285607b3.0 for ; Fri, 09 Sep 2022 08:50:46 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20210112; h=to:subject:message-id:date:from:references:in-reply-to:mime-version :from:to:cc:subject:date; bh=+qbHEPJ0MQgIEp/ap4p0bOUvPndgMryTEv/HGR51oNw=; b=UJ3ZDbkjNHm8zIdTU9zqu21zHqql79DYD590aF23A7n+SJDCxE6PSnRR5WOFGNqMiB VlLK+gOQXJkOv2UxxcOYw1vriIfpG0RNbdyBz/OgT7YT2qs+QnTItaingMsF4HsngdER 26gmC4Gjfnk7GiwSQyfzLymnfieo7T1SZVLfGffR6YjjV7pCzv1PAFFuLK0S/6esgGie 5IR0Z1WO5ZS+6iIc6hLkNrrE9DHcV2t1mXG2hZ/ICvH0JyWqJTiMm8AeqbsEuH+BFOHS pdCV3vOQ/EQK4xrg/nQbFoSgs1h02yNt9fA5Q9alUZ0E1OjGLJ+shmqWBfXZ3WBOBMGW SAQw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20210112; h=to:subject:message-id:date:from:references:in-reply-to:mime-version :x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date; bh=+qbHEPJ0MQgIEp/ap4p0bOUvPndgMryTEv/HGR51oNw=; b=EP8tE38DemKE2eHcnuLxYZ5p6/l01HxP/yRaJKlrdT8QRto7pBEbNUw7fUY0G1yW+Z 7tsfgNL5TBhYqMqOSDO3oLC/9/4gaWAy9ikzaEcVt5z/qOsCvl2kqTheFfuoe71zN1Df b3vVlooSbYptn/wdVDNRKZSEXxL1NQjtLrQLl6CKsXUuXAMiKtz6FKq6lS9yPJT4+wwV fkqJrX/e1EbMZR+CzoV2WAdiVgeqSR3Qu5E0bEspzQqLVob6wzwNIqk4LikM5oPup9VA o8N5IxVTchej8sj3YceqcQTQWeKCDV32cv1UBEl1sLusKzH5roHFuNP968phLFNs9VRo kWiQ== X-Gm-Message-State: ACgBeo1+AVVyM/dYrGl2SAuJ0lhHtdf+tKzrff00Odib/LOKw7c5Xj+b AccMflOe4WPEnRnRUIXYhYhnLYSIxYhAWVknGp2R9S/s X-Google-Smtp-Source: AA6agR7AOZuSkNmDiGFB4eirR7oU3cmtRwbQcho2EdvfBMLcKfFyqKexRZ5w/pb6bBiNNcf7BWKVn2tgzG7YN7U5vFo= X-Received: by 2002:a81:49cf:0:b0:348:5dd8:d85c with SMTP id w198-20020a8149cf000000b003485dd8d85cmr11243468ywa.467.1662738585390; Fri, 09 Sep 2022 08:49:45 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 2002:a05:7000:660d:0:0:0:0 with HTTP; Fri, 9 Sep 2022 08:49:44 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20220909000016.GC94367@eureka.lemis.com> References: <20220908211635.4533B18C077@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> <833155.3451.1662665281061.JavaMail.root@zimbraanteil> <61096d8f-ce80-2ba5-ffdf-8ad5f802ab02@halwitz.org> <20220909000016.GC94367@eureka.lemis.com> From: Paul Winalski Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2022 11:49:44 -0400 Message-ID: To: tuhs@tuhs.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Message-ID-Hash: JLYJI7WB6S2GUV3AMRWZIXKBYYKJ6GUH X-Message-ID-Hash: JLYJI7WB6S2GUV3AMRWZIXKBYYKJ6GUH X-MailFrom: paul.winalski@gmail.com X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Does anybody know the etymology of the term "word" as in collection of bits? List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: 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.