eric76 wrote:
Edenthiel wrote:
It is possible to program in binary by manually loading memory bits, as was done in ye oldest days by hardwiring programs using patch cords. It's a fun exercise on a 4-bit for the first 30 minutes, then your mind starts to develop ideas for automating the process...
On the old Data General Supernova computer I used to have to enter a bootstrap program a word at a time by flipping switches to set bits. That wasn't programming.
Sure, you can write programs directly into a binary/octal/hexadecimal representation -- that's called machine language, not binary.
Respectfully, I disagree. Strictly speaking, any time instructions are created by a person and provided for the processing unit to execute, that is programming. They can be perfectly static such as boot instructions stored in hardwired gates (firmware), bootstrap code set by flipping bits with manual switches or something far more dynamic like stored code.
Btw, if you want to get nostalgic, visit
http://simh.trailing-edge.com/And perhaps both the OT and eric76 will find this interesting:
http://maben.homeip.net/static/S100/dat ... %20Ref.pdfIt's the basic programming manual for the DG Nova & for the OP it talks quite a bit about the relationship between binary and how it tells the processor what to do...
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