On 2021-08-25 1:25 a.m., Eric Smith via cctalk wrote:
432 GDP instructions were bit-aligned in an instruction object, and occupied anywhere from 6 to 344 bits.
Did not the IBM 7030 try a similar idea. All this work to replace a punched card. Funny how records where simple on decimal computers and are mess on binary ones.
Although there are many reasons for the failures of both the 432 and the P7/BiiN processor, one they had in common was that their advanced architectural features were especially suited to high level languages, such as Ada, and very poorly suited to low level languages, such as C. As everyone knows, the world chose to standardize on C. The P7, and later the i960, could run C code perfectly well, but C code couldn't easily take advantage of the advanced architectural capabilities of the P7/BiiN processor.
C uses cheap tricks for speed. 8 bit bytes, 32 bit integers, taken from B. I have 21 bit CPU, with 3 7 bit bytes/word. Algol would have a PACK/UPACK function, and be fairly portable. C on the other hand a mess.
Ok. I don't have 21 bit cpu, but I have this spare FPGA card ... > world chose to standardize on C. More like the same 32 bit/ 8 bit bytes vanilla cpu, with push and pop on the stack. Can't have near/far pointers with some intel products so we need new standard for the non PDP/11 or VAX computers, and again and again... Ben.
