2 ms·

x86 registers were designed with purposes in mind, and many of the 1-byte opcodes reflect this-- for example, "A4 MOVS mb,mb: Move byte [SI] to ES:[DI], advance

• pvg 8y ago
  'Octal machine' seems a little overstated (I know, that's what the ole post says), 'fundamentally' fundamentally so.
  • ddingus 8y ago
    Did you read the linked material? Looking at instruction encoding through an octal lens makes a lot of sense. We should allow some license here. A discussion of, say the ALU, may likely yield a different statement. "Machine", viewed theou various lenses, bit depth, ALU, clock, instructions, registers or lack of, works best in context. Just a thought. :D
    • pvg 8y ago
      Did you read the linked material? Did you read my comment that specifically mentions it? Looking at instruction encoding through an octal lens makes a lot of sense. Sure. But it doesn't make it an 'octal machine', let alone fundamentally so. Lots of binary things exhibit easier-to-see patterns when presented as octal, that's why octal is around. But it's a bit of convenient numerology not some intrinsic aspect of the (very binary) machine.