Re: The integral type 'byte' (was Re: Suggested method for returning a string from a C program?)

On 28/03/2025 11:22, Janis Papanagnou wrote:

On 28.03.2025 10:13, David Brown wrote:

[...]

 

[ NS32032 ]

>
Indeed.  After all, the 68k was one of the most successful ISAs ever,
and the x86 "won" for economic reasons, not technical reasons.  The
NS32000, on the other hand, is known only to a few nerds. [...]

 Given that it did not "survive" in the first place I was astonished
that when I spoke with IT professionals in the past it was mentioned
as outstanding (compared to a lot of other alternatives these days).

The 68k was outstanding.  The NS32000 had a lot of similarities to the 68k.  Therefore, compared to a lot of /other/ architectures around, it too was outstanding.  Compared to the 68k, however, it was nothing special - no doubt there were some pros and some cons.

I was also astonished that bart had it in his short-list. So I'm not
inclined to accept your words that it's "known only to a few nerds".
(It's not necessarily the best technologies that "survive".) YMMV.
 

Bart is a nerd of rare quality.  (I mean that in a good way.)  It does not surprise me that he is familiar with it.
Remember that while the NS32000 died away fairly quickly, when it was around it was a reasonably well-known alternative to the bigger names. Someone looking for a powerful cpu and not burdened by compatibility restraints, could just as well have picked it rather than a 68k device. At that time, no one knew it would die away from the scene.  So people involved in designing computer equipment at that time - such as Bart - would know of it and may well have used it.