RTX-2000 processor PC/AT add-in card (any takers?)

[Paul Koning]

> On Apr 11, 2017, at 12:37 PM, Chuck Guzis via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> On 04/10/2017 02:23 PM, Eric Smith wrote:
> 
>> When the 432 project (originally 8800) started, there weren't many
>> people predicting that C (and its derivatives) would take over the world.
> 
> That's the danger of a too-aggressive CISC, isn't it?  I suppose that
> it's safe to say that if you look under the hood of any modern CPU,
> there's a RISC machine in there somewhere.

Back then it would have seemed a reasonable assumption that high level, strongly typed, languages would continue to flourish.  If you assume Algol or Pascal or Ada, a machine like the 432 (or like the Burroughs 5500 and its descendants) makes perfect sense.

I don't think this is exactly a question of RISC vs. CISC, but rather a question of how you believe addressing is done.  For example, the EL-X8 is a one address machine with a regular instruction layout, which makes it somewhat RISC like in structure.  But it has addressing modes clearly designed for efficient handling of block structured recursive languages like Algol.

	paul