16 Jun
2026
16 Jun
'26
7:56 p.m.
On Tue, 2026-06-16 at 21:29 -0400, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
For that matter, you can't program the Pico's
programmable state
machine engines in anything other than assembler, for the simple
reason that nothing else will serve when you only have 32 words of
program memory.
I wrote a program for the IBM 1401 that prints powers of 2, with their
exponents, until the print line overflows. It fits on two cards. Yeah,
160 characters only 80 in memory all at once (the program runs entirely
in the read area — 1-80). I gave it to CHM. The two-card deck is
labeled "The Power of Two." They occasionally run it to entertain
visitors, to demonstrate the power of a two-card program. They usually
run a fancier program that also prints the last one, 128 digits, in
English as well as decimal.