The Descriptor: a definition of the B5000 information processing system (1961)

cs.virginia.edu

7 pointsgruseom3 comments

This is a follow-up to recent threads/posts:

I highly recommend the last one. All of it, not just the linked passage. I doubt I've ever enjoyed reading a technical memoir so much.

Some noteworthy firsts:

First commercial implementation of virtual memory

Tagged, stack-based architecture, designed for easier compiler implementation

Most of the OS and other systems software written in a high-level language (a dialect of Algol 67)

The descendant of this architecture is still in production as the Unisys ClearPath/MCP architecture

(edited for formatting)

Gah, of course I meant Algol 60 (a much simpler language than Algol 68, there was no Algol 67)!