3 Feb
2021
3 Feb
'21
11:19 p.m.
On Tue, 2 Feb 2021, M Douglas McIlroy wrote:
23 bits? I think I'm about to throw up... Yeah, being prime I suppose it
would help with hashing (and other crypto stuff).
I'm
trying to get my head around a 10-bit machine optimised for C.
How about 23-bits? That was one of the early ESS machines, evidently
optimized to make every bit count. (Maybe a prime wordwidth helps with
hashing?) Whirlwind II (built in 1952), was 16 bits. It took a
long while for that
to become common wisdom.
Now that goes back...
-- Dave