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One thing to keep in mind is how primitive microprocessors like the 6502 were. The IBM 704 (introduced in 1954) had floating point in hardware (i.e. lots of vac
by kens 12y ago
One thing to keep in mind is how primitive microprocessors like the 6502 were. The IBM 704 (introduced in 1954) had floating point in hardware (i.e. lots of vacuum tubes). The 6502, more than 20 years later, didn't have any math beyond 8-bit integer adds, subtracts, and shifts. Even integer multiplication required software. The 6502 floating point routines are an accomplishment, but implementing floating point circuitry with vacuum tubes is also pretty impressive.
- TazeTSchnitzel 12y agoThe 6502 was special because it was so, so much cheaper than its competitors, at least initially, making home computers practical. And that's probably why it was so limited.
- acqq 12y agoApparently the whole 6502 has only 3510 transistors! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2064030 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2064030 To compare, modern Intel i7 processors have around 2 billion (some less, some more).