this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
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I love the introductory chapter in the Bendix G15 Programmers's Reference Manual - when computers were still fresh enough that you had to start from the very basic concepts.
http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/bendix/g-15/G15D_Programmers_Ref_Man.pdf

#retrocomputing #programming #bendixg15

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[โ€“] harrysintonen@infosec.exchange 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

@semit0ne You "mark" an address as the return address, and then there's a special command that returns execution to the marked address (PDF pages 60 and 61). I don't know if it internally is implemented by using some offset on a reserved line. Considering how the drum memory was in fact chosen to reduce number of tubes and logic, it might well be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_register

[โ€“] semit0ne@mastodon.social 2 points 1 month ago

@harrysintonen@infosec.exchange Oh, that seems quite convoluted at first glance. I see that in order to fully appreciate the design I would have to read more than two or three pages of the manual to get a goot idea of how the lines on the drum are used.