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On Friday 26 November 2010 14:32:58 Alan McKinnon wrote: |
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> One could ask the question "where did the first assembler come from?" |
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> |
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> Just as the first OSes and compilers were written in assembler to |
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> bootstrap C, so the first assemblers were written in hex codes to |
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> bootstrap the assembler. But hex code editors ran software, so where |
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> did the first hex code input gadget come from? |
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> |
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> And the answer to that is that it was written in binary. Yes that's |
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> right - a panel with 16 toggle switches and a few pushbuttons. Those |
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> didn't require software as everything was implemented in hardware. |
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Except that in my case it was 24 switches, not 16 (this was a dedicated |
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process-control computer for nuclear-powered ships and power stations, |
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35 years ago). And I sometimes had to make individual holes in the paper |
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tape to "write" or change the code. |
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-- |
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Rgds |
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Peter. Linux Counter 5290, 1994-04-23. |
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