Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re: Need a microprogramming consultant! Message-ID: <5191@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Fri, 8-Mar-85 13:50:15 EST Article-I.D.: utzoo.5191 Posted: Fri Mar 8 13:50:15 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 8-Mar-85 13:50:15 EST References: <504@ima.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 14 > Finally, it turns out that microprogramming is far from a new idea. It was > originally proposed for an early British machine in 1952! Actually, the concept of microprogramming goes back much further than that, although it was forgotten for a long time and then re-invented by Maurice Wilkes in 1952. Some of Charles Babbage's drawings for his never-built Analytical Engine show what is clearly, in modern terminology, microprogrammed control for a specialized execution unit. But Babbage never published much about the general principles of his designs, and nobody noticed this particular invention until quite recently. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry