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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