[cctalk] Re: mainframe vs mini

[Paul Koning via cctalk]

> On Mar 11, 2023, at 5:34 PM, Chuck Guzis <ccl...@sydex.com> wrote:
> 
> On 3/11/23 13:28, Paul Koning wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Dijkstra said as much when he evaluated the 1620 for possible use by the TU 
>> Eindhoven -- a big problem is that it was unable to handle arbitrary 8-bit 
>> data.
> 
> Oh heck, there's no way to test for a numeric blank.  Compare works only
> for numeric data.  The system can't tell the difference between a card
> punched with 8-4 or 8-4-1, for example.   Lots of holes in the
> architecture.   But that doesn't mean you couldn't do useful work with it.

I agree entirely.  What Dijkstra was doing was evaluating a number of machines 
to see if they would serve as the university's primary computer.  And given the 
1620's limitations he had good reason to conclude that it's not well suited for 
that job.  Suited for more limited jobs?  Definitely.

        paul