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Cyhist Jan 20 1997 A
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Date: Mon, 20 Jan 1997 22:41:15 -0800
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
From: Suzanne Johnson <johnson@rahul.net>
Subject: CYHIST: emulation and Microsoft history
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
Bob Bickford <rab@well.com> came across the following quote and asks if emulation goes back further than Microsoft:
>I'm pretty sure Gates and Allen were the first to come up with the technique of writing microcomputer software on minicomputers by emulating the micro's CPU in software. That gave them a big edge over other micro developers, which led to Microsoft becoming the major supplier of BASIC for early micros, which gave Gates the contacts he later needed to sell MS-DOS to cloners.
When I started working at Intel in 1978, one of the most popular pieces of software they distributed (both to Universities and commercial organizations) was a suite of emulators which would allow a person to generate and compile code for microprocessors on other computers. Specifically, I recall the emulators for the 8080 which ran on the PDP-10.
This software was written under contract to Intel by CFG, Inc., a software firm in Southern California. I imagine the emulators must have been written in the mid-seventies, because by 1978 the software was being phased out in an effort to encourage developers to acquire Intel MDS development systems. These were the "blue boxes" that were actually a self-contained system with text-editor and development software intended to simplify code development for microporcessors. (Actually, an early "personal computer").
Dave Farber of U. Penn was one of the principals in CFG who was a part of the emulator development effort.
Also, during the early 1970's, Mainsail was developed. Mainsail was (actually, is) a machine independent language which eventually had a full suite of cross compilers which made it possible to compile code for any of its supported machines on any of the other supported machines. Mainsail got its start as a PhD thesis by Clark Wilcox at Stanford University. After he graduated, a company known as Xidak was started in the SF Bay Area. Mainsail is now a product of Xidak, and as far as I know, is still available.
Yes, World, there WAS software and Computer Science before Microsoft.
-------------
Suzanne Johnson
Sunnyvale, CA
johnson@rahul.net
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
From: Suzanne Johnson <johnson@rahul.net>
Subject: CYHIST: emulation and Microsoft history
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
Bob Bickford <rab@well.com> came across the following quote and asks if emulation goes back further than Microsoft:
>I'm pretty sure Gates and Allen were the first to come up with the technique of writing microcomputer software on minicomputers by emulating the micro's CPU in software. That gave them a big edge over other micro developers, which led to Microsoft becoming the major supplier of BASIC for early micros, which gave Gates the contacts he later needed to sell MS-DOS to cloners.
When I started working at Intel in 1978, one of the most popular pieces of software they distributed (both to Universities and commercial organizations) was a suite of emulators which would allow a person to generate and compile code for microprocessors on other computers. Specifically, I recall the emulators for the 8080 which ran on the PDP-10.
This software was written under contract to Intel by CFG, Inc., a software firm in Southern California. I imagine the emulators must have been written in the mid-seventies, because by 1978 the software was being phased out in an effort to encourage developers to acquire Intel MDS development systems. These were the "blue boxes" that were actually a self-contained system with text-editor and development software intended to simplify code development for microporcessors. (Actually, an early "personal computer").
Dave Farber of U. Penn was one of the principals in CFG who was a part of the emulator development effort.
Also, during the early 1970's, Mainsail was developed. Mainsail was (actually, is) a machine independent language which eventually had a full suite of cross compilers which made it possible to compile code for any of its supported machines on any of the other supported machines. Mainsail got its start as a PhD thesis by Clark Wilcox at Stanford University. After he graduated, a company known as Xidak was started in the SF Bay Area. Mainsail is now a product of Xidak, and as far as I know, is still available.
Yes, World, there WAS software and Computer Science before Microsoft.
-------------
Suzanne Johnson
Sunnyvale, CA
johnson@rahul.net
______________________________________________________________________
