strangest systems I've sent email from

[Sean Conner]

It was thus said that the Great ben once stated:
> On 5/20/2016 2:58
> 
> >
> >[4]	Say, a C compiler an 8088.  How big is a pointer?  How big of an
> >	object can you point to?  How much code is involved with "p++"?
> 
> How come INTEL thought that 64 KB segments ample? I guess they only used
> FLOATING point in the large time shared machines.

  The industry at the time was wanting larger CPUs than 8 bit.  Intel had an
existing 8-bit design, the 8080 and to fill demand, Intel had a few choices. 
It could break with any form of compatibility (object or source) and start
over with a clean slate [1].  Or they could keep some form of compatibility
and Intel went with (more or less) source compatibility.  You could
mechanically translate 8080 code into 8086 code with a high assurance it
would work, and thus customers of Intel could leverate the existing 8080
(and Z80) source base.

  And that's how you end up with a bizare segmented 16-bit architecture.

  -spc

[1]	Motorola took this approach when making the 68000.  It's nothing at
	all like the 6800.