The IBM System/360: the first modular, general-purpose computer

Re:The IBM System/360: the first modular, general-purpose co... by DonaldFisk on Thursday August 25, 2016 @04:09PM (#12362077)

It was preceded by the more advanced Burroughs B5000, which had a stack-based architecture, was directly programmable in Algol60, and had virtual memory.

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Re:The IBM System/360: the first modular, general-purpose co... by nickpsecurity on Thursday August 25, 2016 @05:25PM (#12362635)

You beat me to it. I counter that "first" part every time I see it because it was both second and an inferior machine. To think they spent $5 billion on it. I still don't have a number on what B5000 cost to develop. That would be interesting comparison.

EDIT: $500mil-$1bil on development part per another comment.

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Re:The IBM System/360: the first modular, general-purpose co... by wmf on Thursday August 25, 2016 @05:33PM (#12362682)

The difference is that the B5000 was a single machine while S/360 was a platform of compatible machines with a wide range of prices. IBM also maintained backwards compatibility while it appears that the B6500 did not.

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Re:The IBM System/360: the first modular, general-purpose co... by cpr on Thursday August 25, 2016 @04:28PM (#12362217)

Not to nit-pick but it was Burrough's Algol systems programming dialect rather than straight Algol60. Damned impressive, yep. (See Alan Kay's various talks about computer history.)

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