18 Jul
2007
18 Jul
'07
12:07 a.m.
Chuck Guzis schrieb:
There's a 1958 NEC 1103 Parametron computer
brochure online at
http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/NEC/NEC.1103.1958102
646285.pdf
I think it's interesting that the term "sexadecimal" is used.
Apparently, NEC had none of the puritanical qualms of IBM. The
numbering notation seems to be 0123456789DGHJKV.
"Sexadecimal" had been already used with the Illiac before (around
53/54, see bitsavers), with even another scheme
for the pseudo tetrades: 0123456789 K S N J F L, related to the 5 bit
encoding of characters on a paper tape.
I wonder why those obscure encodings evolved that don't assign letters
and their encoding values in linear, consecutive order.
--
Holger