How much public information is there about the "p-code" used in early versions of Microsoft application software, including MultiPlan, Word, Excel, and probably others? They originally had a proprietary C compiler named "CS" that produced the p-code. There are claims that p-code support was added to the Microsoft C Compiler, but I haven't found any actual documentation of that.

@whitequark

@vnikolov @AmenZwa @larsbrinkhoff @amszmidt @dimpase @trofi
The PDP-10 most certainly DOES have addressable bytes. That's the subject of section 2.3 of the System Reference Manual.
In theory, that was an optional feature of the earliest PDP-10 processor, the KA10, but there is no evidence that DEC ever sold a KA10 without the option.

@larsbrinkhoff @AmenZwa @amszmidt @dimpase @trofi
What sizes were the integer types?

@ryanc
The sun's total power output is only 296dBm, though it is the closest thing to a isotropic radiator that exists in the solar system.
If an antenna with 4600dB gain existed, it would be so highly directional as to be impossible to aim it sufficiently well to achieve any communication.

@ryanc
I'd like a copy of the fake product image, if you can share it.

@ryanc
If you inadvertently got your hand (or anything) in the beam, I'm not sure just how dangerous it would be. You'd only be subjected to the power of the amplifier, so presumably not too many watts, but focused on an area smaller than a proton, so the energy density would be higher than any that has existed in our universe since the Big Bang.

@evacide
Don't be absurd. We obviously can't create a proper Torment Nexus without a steady supply of Orphan Crushing Machines.

@hellomiakoda
You can't have empathy for people who look different than you, if you've been taught for your entire life that those people are subhuman. (Even thought that word was never explicitly stated.)

Eating a sandwich and Miss Vickie's sea salt & vinegar chips at Subway. All the chips were fine, except the last one in the bottom of the bag. What the heck is this? Definitely not going to eat it.

Putting together a new 1U box for my server rack:
https://www.printables.com/model/1167457-1u-rack-mount-wopr-leds-enclosure

@codinghorror
What if natural intelligence doesn't actually emerge from some really deep amazing but currently unknown physics, but instead is just a clever trick building on (mostly) known physics?

Concrete factories are responsible for 8% of global CO2 emissions.
I haven't been able to find out how much abstract factories produce.

@amszmidt
T-302 (SMD) connected to a PDP-11/70
To use (somewhat) modern mass storage, I have a Unibus SCSI controller.

@amszmidt No, an SD card won't plug into the Trident interface.

@amszmidt No, I need the real hardware!
:-)

@amszmidt Wow, I've been waiting for new Trident disk drive models for like, forever! Though I doubt that qi can afford them.

Is there any open source tool for proving assertions about machine code programs, given some minimal constraints (e.g., no self-modifyimg code, all computed branch targets identified)? Assertions like "the carry flag will always be clear when this instruction starts execution".

Open source needed because I'd want to adapt the tool for a proprietary and very unconventional processor architecture.

I've been reading the Heinlein novels in publication order. I had not previously read the juveniles, or a few of the other early novels, but I've enjoyed all of them. I've previously read most of the novels published since 1956. I've just finished reading _Time Enough for Love_, and started _The Number of the Beast_.
Among my long-time favorites are:
_The Puppet Masters_
_Double Star_
_The Door Into Summer_
_Glory Road_
_The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress_
to which I have now added
_Starman Jones_

@jwz law of conservation of panic