Re: Access to a ridiculous computer? :-D
- From: Keith Thompson <kst-u@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:42:17 -0800
"Tomás Ó hÉilidhe" <toe@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
Has anyone here got access to a ridiculous computer? Something like:
CHAR_BIT == 9
PADDING_BITS(int) != 0
NUMBER_SYSTEM == SIGN_MAGNITUDE
Null pointer bit pattern == All ones
I'm writing some fully-portable code and would love to actually compile it
for, and test it on, a very strange machine :-D
Or does anyone know of a particular machine I could get my hands on very
cheaply just for playing around with, something very strange which I can
get a compliant C89 compiler for? An old supercomputer perhaps? The main
thing I'd want is a strange value for CHAR_BIT, but I'd be ecstatic if the
integer types had padding aswell!
Your best bet for CHAR_BIT > 8 is probably a DSP (Digital Signal
Processor), but I think those systems tend not to have hosted C
implementations (i.e., much of the standard library may be missing).
You *might* be able to obtain an old working supercomputer for not too
much money, but the power and air conditioning costs are likely to be
huge. In any case, on the relatively old supercomputers I've used
(Cray T90), CHAR_BIT==8 (the compiler went to considerable effort to
make this work, even though the hardware didn't support 8-bit memory
access. But I believe at least some of the predefined integer types
did have padding bits.
cray-cyber.org offers free access to some old supercomputers; some of
them are available 24/7, others are not.
--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) <kst-u@xxxxxxx>
[...]
"We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this."
-- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"
.
- References:
- Access to a ridiculous computer? :-D
- From: Tomás Ó hÉilidhe
- Access to a ridiculous computer? :-D
- Prev by Date: Re: Reg:Structures
- Next by Date: Re: SHA-1 in fully-portable C89?
- Previous by thread: Access to a ridiculous computer? :-D
- Next by thread: Re: Access to a ridiculous computer? :-D
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
