18 Nov
2003
18 Nov
'03
1:16 p.m.
On Tuesday, November 18, 2003, at 03:49 PM, Tom Jennings wrote:
On Mon, 2003-11-17 at 17:58, Joe wrote:
The HP41 is a harvard architechture normally, but with Synthetic
programming
the "curtain" can be moved and data becomes program.
> I am not sure if it's a calculator or computer :-).
I agree. It has all the requirements. User
input output, device
I/O,
mass storage, programability, etc. And it's not limited to one
function per
key as most calculators.
But is it STORED PROGRAM, eg. can it do self-modifying code. vonNeumann
(one store for program and data; programs ARE data) or Harvard
(instructions are in a separate store from data memory) architecture?
Strictly-speaking, Microchip's PICs are NOT COMPUTERS. Of course I
don't
make that distinction when working with them.
"Programmability" isn't a measure of a 'stored program electronic
automatic computer'. My washing machine is programmable... :-)