Really stupid PDP assembler question

From: David V. Corbin <dvcorbin_at_optonline.net>
Date: Fri Jun 25 21:53:50 2004

derMouse:

>>> - Existing devices (eg, nixies) could handle 0-7 better than 0-F.

You win the grand prize! The actual devices that prompted it however were
printers! A printing calculator could be adapted to produce hardcopy. These
were in (relatively) common use and available. "Most" systems used binary
for lamps/leds so nixie tubes for non decimal values were not predominant.
As you know the use of text in computing [for entry/display] came later.

David.

>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org
>>> [mailto:cctalk-bounces_at_classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of der Mouse
>>> Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 8:17 PM
>>> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
>>> Subject: Re: Really stupid PDP assembler question
>>>
>>> > While this question ask been well answered, it does bring
>>> to mind a
>>> > good old trivia question....
>>>
>>> > "What significant advantage did octal have over hex notation
>>> > (especially in the late '60s timeframe)?"
>>>
>>> Well, I wasn't around then (at least not with respect to computers).
>>> But I'd hazard a few guesses.
>>>
>>> - Word lengths that were multiples of 3 were commoner than
>>> word lengths
>>> that were multiples of 4 (of course, some, eg 36 bits,
>>> were both).
>>>
>>> - Existing devices (eg, nixies) could handle 0-7 better than 0-F.
>>>
>>> - Using letters as "digits" ran into human mindset trouble; using
>>> decimal representation for hex digits runs into bigger trouble,
>>> using multiple characters per functional digit.
>>>
>>> - Humans have trouble with a 16-digit system. (I know I
>>> do; I always
>>> have to stop and pay attention to avoid getting B and D
>>> confused.)
>>>
>>> How close did I come? :-)
>>>
>>> /~\ The ASCII der Mouse
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Received on Fri Jun 25 2004 - 21:53:50 BST