FPGA VAX update

[J.C. Wren]

"count the 1's"  was added at the request of the Atomic Energy 
Commission (or proxied through them) for nuclear blast simulations.

    --jc

a.carlini at ntlworld.com wrote:

>Chuck Guzis wrote:
>  
>
>>I still wonder about the utilitiy
>>of 
>>the "count the 1's" instruction.  I could go on...
>>    
>>
>
>Apparently one of the US three-letter-agencies asked
>for some modifications to (IIRC) the proposed PDP-10
>instruction so that it would do whatever they wanted
>a tad more quickly. counting-1s was (again, IIRC) one
>of those requested additions.
>
>According to a talk I saw on the web a few years ago now,
>by one of the guys in charge of P3 (or P4), people still
>ask "can I have such-and-such" an instruction!
>
>Antonio
>
>  
>