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IBM 1620
The IBM 1620 was announced by IBM on October 21, 1959, and marketed as an inexpensive scientific computer. After a total production of about two thousand machines, it was withdrawn on November 19, 1970. Modified versions of the 1620 were used as the CPU of the IBM 1710 and IBM 1720 Industrial Process Control Systems (making it the first digital computer considered reliable enough for real-time process control of factory equipment). Being variable-word-length decimal, as opposed to fixed-word-length pure binary, made it an especially attractive first computer to learn on and hundreds of thousands of students had their first experiences with a computer on the IBM 1620. Core memory cycle times were 20 microseconds for the (earlier) Model I, 10 microseconds for the Model II (about a thousand times slower than typical computer main memory in 2006). The Model II was introduced in 1962. Architecture Memory The IBM 1620 was a variable "word" length decimal ( BCD) computer with a mag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IBM 1620 Model II
The IBM 1620 was announced by IBM on October 21, 1959, and marketed as an inexpensive scientific computer. After a total production of about two thousand machines, it was withdrawn on November 19, 1970. Modified versions of the 1620 were used as the CPU of the IBM 1710 and IBM 1720 Industrial Process Control Systems (making it the first digital computer considered reliable enough for real-time computing, real-time process control of factory equipment). Being variable word length (computer hardware), variable-word-length decimal, as opposed to fixed-word-length pure binary, made it an especially attractive first computer to learn on and hundreds of thousands of students had their first experiences with a computer on the IBM 1620. Core memory cycle times were 20 microseconds for the (earlier) #Model I, Model I, 10 microseconds for the #Model II, Model II (about a thousand times slower than typical computer main memory in 2006). The Model II was introduced in 1962. Architecture Mem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IBM 650
The IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine is an early digital computer produced by IBM in the mid-1950s. It was the first mass produced computer in the world. Almost 2,000 systems were produced, the last in 1962, and it was the first computer to make a meaningful profit. The first one was installed in late 1954 and it was the most-popular computer of the 1950s. The 650 was marketed to business, scientific and engineering users as a general-purpose version of the IBM 701 and IBM 702 computers which were for scientific and business purposes respectively. It was also marketed to users of unit record equipment, punched card machines who were upgrading from Unit record equipment#Calculating, calculating punches, such as the IBM 604, to computers. Because of its relatively low cost and ease of Computer programming, programming, the 650 was used to pioneer a wide variety of applications, from modeling submarine crew performance to teaching high school and college students c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sign-and-magnitude
In computing, signed number representations are required to encode negative numbers in binary number systems. In mathematics, negative numbers in any base are represented by prefixing them with a minus sign ("−"). However, in RAM or CPU registers, numbers are represented only as sequences of bits, without extra symbols. The four best-known methods of extending the binary numeral system to represent signed numbers are: sign–magnitude, ones' complement, two's complement, and offset binary. Some of the alternative methods use implicit instead of explicit signs, such as negative binary, using the base −2. Corresponding methods can be devised for other bases, whether positive, negative, fractional, or other elaborations on such themes. There is no definitive criterion by which any of the representations is universally superior. For integers, the representation used in most current computing devices is two's complement, although the Unisys ClearPath Dorado series mainframes u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Significand
The significand (also mantissa or coefficient, sometimes also argument, or ambiguously fraction or characteristic) is part of a number in scientific notation or in floating-point representation, consisting of its significant digits. Depending on the interpretation of the exponent, the significand may represent an integer or a fraction. Example The number 123.45 can be represented as a decimal floating-point number with the integer 12345 as the significand and a 10−2 power term, also called characteristics, where −2 is the exponent (and 10 is the base). Its value is given by the following arithmetic: : 123.45 = 12345 × 10−2. The same value can also be represented in normalized form with 1.2345 as the fractional coefficient, and +2 as the exponent (and 10 as the base): : 123.45 = 1.2345 × 10+2. Schmid, however, called this representation with a significand ranging between 1.0 and 10 a modified normalized form. For base 2, this 1.xxxx form is also called a normalized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floating Point
In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic that represents real numbers approximately, using an integer with a fixed precision, called the significand, scaled by an integer exponent of a fixed base. For example, 12.345 can be represented as a base-ten floating-point number: 12.345 = \underbrace_\text \times \underbrace_\text\!\!\!\!\!\!^ In practice, most floating-point systems use base two, though base ten (decimal floating point) is also common. The term ''floating point'' refers to the fact that the number's radix point can "float" anywhere to the left, right, or between the significant digits of the number. This position is indicated by the exponent, so floating point can be considered a form of scientific notation. A floating-point system can be used to represent, with a fixed number of digits, numbers of very different orders of magnitude — such as the number of meters between galaxies or between protons in an atom. For this reason, floating-poin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Floating Point
In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic that represents real numbers approximately, using an integer with a fixed precision, called the significand, scaled by an integer exponent of a fixed base. For example, 12.345 can be represented as a base-ten floating-point number: 12.345 = \underbrace_\text \times \underbrace_\text\!\!\!\!\!\!^ In practice, most floating-point systems use base two, though base ten (decimal floating point) is also common. The term ''floating point'' refers to the fact that the number's radix point can "float" anywhere to the left, right, or between the significant digits of the number. This position is indicated by the exponent, so floating point can be considered a form of scientific notation. A floating-point system can be used to represent, with a fixed number of digits, numbers of very different orders of magnitude — such as the number of meters between galaxies or between protons in an atom. For this reason, floating-poin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fixed-point Arithmetic
In computing, fixed-point is a method of representing fractional (non-integer) numbers by storing a fixed number of digits of their fractional part. Dollar amounts, for example, are often stored with exactly two fractional digits, representing the cents (1/100 of dollar). More generally, the term may refer to representing fractional values as integer multiples of some fixed small unit, e.g. a fractional amount of hours as an integer multiple of ten-minute intervals. Fixed-point number representation is often contrasted to the more complicated and computationally demanding floating-point representation. In the fixed-point representation, the fraction is often expressed in the same number base as the integer part, but using negative powers of the base ''b''. The most common variants are decimal (base 10) and binary (base 2). The latter is commonly known also as binary scaling. Thus, if ''n'' fraction digits are stored, the value will always be an integer multiple of ''b' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opcode
In computing, an opcode (abbreviated from operation code, also known as instruction machine code, instruction code, instruction syllable, instruction parcel or opstring) is the portion of a machine language instruction that specifies the operation to be performed. Beside the opcode itself, most instructions also specify the data they will process, in the form of operands. In addition to opcodes used in the instruction set architectures of various CPUs, which are hardware devices, they can also be used in abstract computing machines as part of their byte code specifications. Overview Specifications and format of the opcodes are laid out in the instruction set architecture ( ISA) of the processor in question, which may be a general CPU or a more specialized processing unit. Opcodes for a given instruction set can be described through the use of an opcode table detailing all possible opcodes. Apart from the opcode itself, an instruction normally also has one or more specifiers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instruction Set
In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA), also called computer architecture, is an abstract model of a computer. A device that executes instructions described by that ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an ''implementation''. In general, an ISA defines the supported instructions, data types, registers, the hardware support for managing main memory, fundamental features (such as the memory consistency, addressing modes, virtual memory), and the input/output model of a family of implementations of the ISA. An ISA specifies the behavior of machine code running on implementations of that ISA in a fashion that does not depend on the characteristics of that implementation, providing binary compatibility between implementations. This enables multiple implementations of an ISA that differ in characteristics such as performance, physical size, and monetary cost (among other things), but that are capable of running the same machine code, so that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Groupmark Character
BCD (''binary-coded decimal''), also called alphanumeric BCD, alphameric BCD, BCD Interchange Code, or BCDIC, is a family of representations of numerals, uppercase Latin letters, and some special and control characters as six-bit character codes. Unlike later encodings such as ASCII, BCD codes were not standardized. Different computer manufacturers, and even different product lines from the same manufacturer, often had their own variants, and sometimes included unique characters. Other six-bit encodings with completely different mappings, such as some FIELDATA variants or Transcode, are sometimes incorrectly termed BCD. Many variants of BCD encode the characters '0' through '9' as the corresponding binary values. History Technically, ''binary-coded decimal'' describes the encoding of decimal numbers where each decimal digit is represented by a fixed number of bits, usually four. With the introduction of the ''IBM card'' in 1928, IBM created a code capable of representing alp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Dagger
A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendants of the obelus, a mark used historically by scholars as a critical or highlighting indicator in manuscripts. (The term obelisk derives from the grc-gre, ὀβελίσκος ('), which means "little obelus"; from (') meaning 'roasting spit'). A double dagger or diesis is a variant with two handles that usually marks a third footnote after the asterisk and dagger. The triple dagger is a variant with three handles and is used by medievalists to indicate another level of notation. History The dagger symbol originated from a variant of the obelus, originally depicted by a plain line or a line with one or two dots . It represented an iron roasting spit, a dart, or the sharp end of a javelin, symbolizing the skewering or cutting out ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recordmark Character
BCD (''binary-coded decimal''), also called alphanumeric BCD, alphameric BCD, BCD Interchange Code, or BCDIC, is a family of representations of numerals, uppercase Latin letters, and some special and control characters as six-bit character codes. Unlike later encodings such as ASCII, BCD codes were not standardized. Different computer manufacturers, and even different product lines from the same manufacturer, often had their own variants, and sometimes included unique characters. Other six-bit encodings with completely different mappings, such as some FIELDATA variants or Transcode, are sometimes incorrectly termed BCD. Many variants of BCD encode the characters '0' through '9' as the corresponding binary values. History Technically, ''binary-coded decimal'' describes the encoding of decimal numbers where each decimal digit is represented by a fixed number of bits, usually four. With the introduction of the ''IBM card'' in 1928, IBM created a code capable of representing alp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
