Delete comment from: Ken Shirriff's blog
I've watched the entire series of Marc's with the team that rebuilt the AGC, great stuff!
That said, I'm confused by comments that this AGC enthusiast mentions about a code "interpreter" for the AGC: https://youtu.be/B1J2RMorJXM?t=2214
If there was an interpreter and logically, a compiler, you wouldn't have fully-commented assembly language, as exists in Marc's many pages of print-outs.
Was this "interpreter" this person is talking about some kind of simulation, run on mainframes?
Also, it's probably semantics, but the mention of an "operating system" is a little odd, since I would expect that the AGC would run code in a linear fashion until externally interrupted, as far as I understand, there's no overarching "OS" controlling execution of subprograms.
I'm also a little fuzzy on the concept that the AGC could "do many things at once", but so can a generic microcontroller running a large program loop; you get the impression of many things being done "at once", but its really just sequential, albeit done very quickly. (I've designed simple GPS telemetry recording systems with display, recording to SD, etc.)
Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Apr 3, 2021, 10:02:49 PM
Posted to A computer built from NOR gates: inside the Apollo Guidance Computer