13 Dec
2022
13 Dec
'22
3:56 p.m.
Hi N.,
I had always thought of a delay line as a precursor to
a register (or
stack) for storing intermediate results. Is this not an accurate way
of thinking about it?
As an example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDVAC#Technical_description
says
Physically, the computer comprised the following components:
- a magnetic tape reader-recorder (Wilkes 1956:36 describes this
as a wire recorder.)
...
- a dual memory unit consisting of two sets of 64 mercury
acoustic delay lines of eight words capacity on each line
[1 Ki words]
- three temporary delay-line tanks each holding a single word
It looks like the three temporaries were more akin to a stack or
registers with the main delay lines providing working memory distinct
from tape storage.
Another analogy for a delay line might be a steadily turning Rolodex
where the card on display can be read and then written, perhaps with a
different value, before it disappears.
--
Cheers, Ralph.