5 ms·
The more i learn about mainframes (and minicomputers) the more i feel that the PC world is basically rediscovering old ideas as ICs become ever more potent.
by digi_owl 10y ago
The more i learn about mainframes (and minicomputers) the more i feel that the PC world is basically rediscovering old ideas as ICs become ever more potent.
- dboreham 10y agoNot necessarily rediscovering, just re-implementing.
- dbcurtis 10y agoHa, ha, no. I worked as a CPU logic designer on several mainframes of different architectures before moving to Sili Valley. The "look what I just invented" arrogance I encountered astounded me. When I said something like: "You know, Seymour Cray invented that around 1959, right?" the cognitive dissonance was more than they could handle -- I was usually ignored. So, no, they aren't re-implementing, they are genuinely re-creating history and being proud of themselves for it.
- BoorishBears 10y agoCan you give an example?
- rbanffy 10y agoHTTP form submission and 3270 screens.
- dbcurtis 10y agoHardware hyperthreading. See CDC 6600
- rbanffy 10y agoHaving dedicated computers to control peripherals (like a RAID controller or a network card). To be fair, Atari and Commodore computers already had that.
- wglb 10y agoIt actually predates that. The CDC 3500 series had a separately programmable I/O controller. And the marvelous 1403 printer would often be driven by a 1401.
- snaky 10y agoIt's everywhere these days. That would be very naive to expect from NoSQL 'inventors' to be familiar with IBM IMS and ADABAS, CODASYL Data Model, the history of pre-relational databases, or at least MUMPS or GemStone/S.
- snaky 10y agoNot only ICs, the very idea of The Cloud is basically the mainframe as it always was.