Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!uunet!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!dcl-cs!aber-cs!athene!pcg From: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Top Ten Computer Architectures Message-ID: Date: 15 Nov 90 10:24:20 GMT References: <11613@alice.att.com> <4868@trantor.harris-atd.com> <4876@trantor.harris-atd.com> Sender: aro@aber-cs.UUCP Organization: Coleg Prifysgol Cymru Lines: 31 Nntp-Posting-Host: teachg In-reply-to: chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com's message of 14 Nov 90 20:46:56 GMT X-Old-Subject: Re: UNIX On 14 Nov 90 20:46:56 GMT, chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) said: chuck> And Ed Borasky sends me: chuck> Ed Borasky's Top Ten Computer Architectures: chuck> 1. Babbage's Analytical Engine 2. The IAS machines (ILLIAC I, chuck> JOHHNIAC, etc. 3. The IBM 7030 (STRETCH) 4. System/360 commercial chuck> or scientific jobs) 5. The PDP-8 6. The FPS AP-120B LONG chuck> INSTRUCTION WORD machine 7. The Cray X-MP 8. The Connection chuck> machine machine 9. Intel's Touchstone Delta 10. The MOSTEK 6502 chuck> video games! chuck> Those are MY nominees; clearly others will have favorites. Conspicuosly chuck> missing are ... [ ... RISC machines, but they are post-1980 ... ] ... european machines. Isn't it appalling that the list above is so parochial? European computer industry may be an appalling failure and has gone down the drain, but european computer research does not deserve the same reputation. In particular I would add Zuse's machines from Germany and Kilburn's from Manchester's (to which the title of first supercomputer must surely go) and Wilkes' from Cambridge. In particular, as far as I know, Zuse's group and descendants at Siemens and Kilburn's group and descendants at Manchester are the only two architecture groups in the world to have an unbroken record of developing computer architectures for over 40 years consecutively (Amdahl and Cray are by comparison newcomers). -- Piercarlo Grandi | ARPA: pcg%uk.ac.aber.cs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Dept of CS, UCW Aberystwyth | UUCP: ...!mcsun!ukc!aber-cs!pcg Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk