Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!me!yap From: yap@hammer.me.toronto.edu () Date: Fri Nov 4 00:23:34 EST 1988 Message-ID: <1113.1988Nov4.00:23:35@hammer.me.toronto.edu> Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: PaRITY [Symour's quote :-)] References: <549@gt-eedsp.UUCP> <7493@well.UUCP> <960@mace.cc.purdue.edu> Organization: University of Toronto Mechanical Engineering Keywords: Memory,errors,parity In article <960@mace.cc.purdue.edu> abe@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Vic Abell) writes: >In article <7493@well.UUCP>, ejf@well.UUCP (Erik James Freed) writes: >> I think it was Seymour Cray who was quoted as saying >> "Parity is for farmers" > >The actual story is even more amusing. Cray's first big machine, the >6600, didn't have parity. When asked about it, Seymour did say "Parity >is for farmers!" However, when he designed his next big machine, the >7600, he included memory parity checking and someone asked him about his >change of heart. In reply he is reported to have said, "I learned that >a lot of farmers buy computers." :-) It's even more amusing than that. Seems your federal government wouldn't buy any computers that didn't have parity checking!