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_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 29765 invoked from network); 9 Sep 2022 19:39:26 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (50.116.15.146) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 9 Sep 2022 19:39:26 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 535FB422CF; Sat, 10 Sep 2022 05:39:21 +1000 (AEST) Received: from ipo11.cc.utah.edu (ipo11.cc.utah.edu [155.97.144.10]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8261F422CB for ; Sat, 10 Sep 2022 05:39:17 +1000 (AEST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=simple/simple; d=utah.edu; i=@utah.edu; q=dns/txt; s=UniversityOfUtah; t=1662752358; x=1694288358; h=date:from:to:cc:subject:message-id; bh=GQXK143Gh/ey4ty+I9Tcge2Jsmv/iRqEf20Y0kmmVSY=; b=Y7GUlN0YcLFzdjbuhe1g8VI1a5f/itF7yrIuGb9Xuih89zIn/z9ev6Uw 1x6UH30Ax2PUdt9tix3oWNuXvg7kauvP5OEMfOUI8OVTCvEHXy8v5DPLv lisQlFrKDAtUNDNrgGMOQgoFAl6bZDh3NpgvTbsKkPvAGJBL0bHc4MJoX 3mtlde12r6jfWUK5b+d4W+4hHA+3cEYx0AgD/OoK9oaDVNaRnGbVfmcjT 80fPqW8AuSocvEDIkWzclZgZ8siJnHkUANBjIWPaDa5XgNOoHu+x8s4ku rOQ+6SLNfjSp5iG9CwQ9f7oISX8Uf4tbb9oFPAnAuWslXa4Sjo77/CIqH Q==; X-IronPort-AV: E=McAfee;i="6500,9779,10465"; a="175499390" X-IronPort-AV: E=Sophos;i="5.93,303,1654581600"; d="scan'208";a="175499390" Received: from mail.math.utah.edu ([155.101.98.135]) by ipo11smtp.cc.utah.edu with ESMTP/TLS/ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384; 09 Sep 2022 13:39:15 -0600 Received: from gamma.math.utah.edu (gamma.math.utah.edu [155.101.96.20]) by mail.math.utah.edu (8.16.1/8.16.1) with ESMTP id 289JdEBR003043; Fri, 9 Sep 2022 13:39:14 -0600 (MDT) Received: from gamma.math.utah.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gamma.math.utah.edu (8.15.1/8.15.1) with ESMTP id 289JdEBq026629; Fri, 9 Sep 2022 13:39:14 -0600 Received: (from beebe@localhost) by gamma.math.utah.edu (8.15.1/8.15.1/Submit) id 289JdEfY026624; Fri, 9 Sep 2022 13:39:14 -0600 Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2022 13:39:14 -0600 From: "Nelson H. F. Beebe" To: tuhs@tuhs.org X-US-Mail: "Department of Mathematics, 110 LCB, University of Utah, 155 S 1400 E RM 233, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, USA" X-Telephone: +1 801 581 5254 X-URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe Message-ID: X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.3.8 (mail.math.utah.edu [155.101.98.135]); Fri, 09 Sep 2022 13:39:14 -0600 (MDT) Message-ID-Hash: GP52SNLLVNSIY3GV2BT6CSLGQZKWZ7GZ X-Message-ID-Hash: GP52SNLLVNSIY3GV2BT6CSLGQZKWZ7GZ X-MailFrom: beebe@math.utah.edu 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: Paul Winalski and Bakul Shah commented on bit addressable machines on the TUHS list recently. From Blaauw and Brooks' excellent Computer Architecture book http://www.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/bib/master.html#Blaauw:1997:CAC on page 98, I find >> ... >> The earliest computer with bit resolution is the [IBM 7030] Stretch. >> The Burroughs B1700 (1972) and CDC STAR100 (1973) are later examples. >> >> Bit resolution is costly in format space, since it uses a maximum >> number of bits for address and length specification. Sharpening >> resolution from the byte to the bit costs the same as increasing >> address-space size eight-fold. >> >> Since almost all storage realizations are organized as matrices, >> bit resolution is also expensive in time or equipment. >> ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Nelson H. F. Beebe Tel: +1 801 581 5254 - - University of Utah - - Department of Mathematics, 110 LCB Internet e-mail: beebe@math.utah.edu - - 155 S 1400 E RM 233 beebe@acm.org beebe@computer.org - - Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, USA URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/ - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------