Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!iuvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!ccvaxa!aglew
From: aglew@ccvaxa.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Wirth's challenge (was Re: RISC
Message-ID: <28200075@ccvaxa>
Date: 12 Dec 87 00:20:00 GMT
References: <6901@apple.UUCP>
Lines: 25
Nf-ID: #R:apple.UUCP:6901:ccvaxa:28200075:000:1150
Nf-From: ccvaxa.UUCP!aglew    Dec 11 18:20:00 1987


..> IBM 360, BCD, and COBOL support

I wouldn't go so far as putting packed decimal into a
modern machine, but unpacked decimal (ascii) might be
another thing... except that it can be composed almost
as well out of masks and binary arithmetic.

As for COBOL support, well... I think we are about to
pass the point where a scientific computer will do better
at COBOL support than a business computer. Because, what's
a business computer? ...Well, it has BCD - see above.
It has good I/O - but scientific computers increasingly
have good I/O, since they do graphics. It handles strings well
- but most strings are short, or fixed length. And you can
move a lot of characters through a 64 bit register, and do 
a lot of string operations 8 characters at a time, instead of 
one by one.

Andy "Krazy" Glew. Gould CSD-Urbana.    1101 E. University, Urbana, IL 61801   
aglew@mycroft.gould.com    ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!aglew    aglew@gswd-vms.arpa
   
My opinions are my own, and are not the opinions of my employer, or any
other organisation. I indicate my company only so that the reader may
account for any possible bias I may have towards our products.