1.3 The MIX Computer
October 25, 2024
"In many places throughout this book we will have occasion to refer to a computer's internal machine language. The machine we use is a mythical computer called "MIX."
The MIX machine is interesting to me because it's a punch card computer with magnetic tape units and disks and drums. Nothing is abstracted away.
MIX is a 1960s style computer with 9 total registers:
- A (Accumulator) - 5 bytes + sign
- X (Extension) - 5 bytes + sign
- I1 (Index) - 2 bytes + sign
- I2 (Index) - 2 bytes + sign
- I3 (Index) - 2 bytes + sign
- I4 (Index) - 2 bytes + sign
- I5 (Index) - 2 bytes + sign
- I6 (Index) - 2 bytes + sign
- J (Jump) - 2 bytes + sign
More later.
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