Fri, 16 Nov 2007

Historians Recreate Source Code of First 4004 Application

Digital archeology - who'd have thunk it?

The team of "digital archaeologists" who developed the technology behind the Intel Museum's 4004 microprocessor exhibit have done it again. 36 years after Intel introduced their first microprocessor on November 15, 1971, these computer historians have turned the spotlight on the first application software ever written for a general-purpose microprocessor: the Busicom 141-PF calculator. At the team's web site you can download and play with an authentic calculator simulator that sports a cool animated flowchart. Want to find out how Busicom's Masatoshi Shima compressed an entire four-function, printing calculator into only 1,024 bytes of ROM? Check out the newly recreated assembly language "source code," extensively analyzed, documented, and commented by the team's newest member: Hungary's Lajos Kintli. "He is an amazing reverse-engineer," recounts team leader Tim McNerney, "We understood the disassembled calculator code well enough to simulate it, but Lajos really turned it into 'source code' of the highest standards."

(link) [Slashdot]

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