Early computers was Re: Relay computers

[Paul Koning]

>>>>> "Ron" == Ron Hudson <ron.hudson at sbcglobal.net> writes:

 Ron> On Sep 26, 2004, at 11:51 AM, David V. Corbin wrote:

 >>>>> Ron wrote....  Why not have it add ascii directly...  "1" + "1"
 >>>>> = "2" :^)
 >> 
 >> 
 >> Who EVER implied a relation between decimal representation and
 >> ascii representation??????????
 >> 
 >> David.
 >> 
 >> 

 Ron> no one... just me just now...  Didn't and older IBM machine
 Ron> store numbers digit by digit in consecutive words (allowing you
 Ron> to setup integers as long/wide as you needed) ?

Yes, that exactly describes the IBM 1620.  (It even had variable
length floating point -- any number of digits for the mantissa, though
always 2 digits for the exponent.)

       paul