>> 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$
Consider Babbage's Analytical Engine. It was decimal and it was, not so much by intrinsic merit as by lack of competition, the fastest machine of its day. Admittedly, it ended up being little but vapourware until modern times. But applying "supercomputer" to vapourware machines is a longstanding tradition (though perhaps not one dating back quite to Babbage's day). /~\ The ASCII Mouse \ / Ribbon Campaign X Against HTML mo...@rodents-montreal.org / \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
