> On Jan 23, 2017, at 2:16 PM, Chuck Guzis <ccl...@sydex.com> wrote:
>
> On 01/23/2017 11:00 AM, Steven Maresca wrote:
>> Just wanted to share an excerpted story just sent to me by a
>> colleague, regarding an IBM 7074 supplying data to Java middleware,
>> ultimately feeding a modern webapp stack:
>> http://thenewstack.io/happens-use-java-1960-ibm-mainframe/
>
> The 7074 was referred to as a "supercomputer". Can any decimal machine
> really bear that title?
I suppose it could. I would apply the term to a computer that's the fastest
out there by a fair margin, and uses innovative or distinctive bits of
architecture to make it so. A CDC 6600 clearly qualifies on that basis, as do
the Cray 1 and the ILLIAC IV. I've heard the IBM Stretch mentioned as well, I
don't know it enough to comment. It seems hard to imagine that a decimal
machine could overcome the inherent disadvantages of being decimal so
successfully that it can reach supercomputer status, but in theory I suppose it
might be possible.
paul
