

The Descriptor: a definition of the B5000 information processing system (1961) - gruseom
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/brochure/images/manuals/b5000/descrip/descrip.html

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gruseom
This is a follow-up to recent threads/posts:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2855500>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2855508>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2856567>

I highly recommend the last one. All of it, not just the linked passage. I
doubt I've ever enjoyed reading a technical memoir so much.

------
jleader
See <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burroughs_large_systems#B5000> for
background.

Some noteworthy firsts:

First commercial implementation of virtual memory

Tagged, stack-based architecture, designed for easier compiler implementation

Most of the OS and other systems software written in a high-level language (a
dialect of Algol 67)

The descendant of this architecture is still in production as the Unisys
ClearPath/MCP architecture

(edited for formatting)

~~~
jleader
Gah, of course I meant Algol 60 (a much simpler language than Algol 68, there
was no Algol 67)!

