Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

1 MB is huge.

Keep in mind that IBM PC/XT had only 640 kB, but there were compilers and interpreters for any language, which were available for it.

Moreover, before IBM PC, a CP/M computer with Zilog Z80 or Intel 8080 had usually only 32 kB or 48 kB, but you could use without problems Basic interpreters, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol and PL/M compilers and many others.

However, in order to fit in 32 kB, the compilers themselves were typically written using a macro-assembler, and not in a high-level language. The C language became popular for such tasks somewhat later.




The original Macintosh had 128k and managed to load a graphical OS and an app in that space. The ROM certainly helped, but it was quite a feat.


> Keep in mind that IBM PC/XT had only 640 kB

And that's the maximum (without bank switching schemes like EMS). The first version had only 64 KB. There were even plans for a 16 KB version with no disk drive but I don't think it was ever released.


The base model of ZX Spectrum only had 16 Kb, but it was enough for it to run BASIC.

And then there's FORTH, which is tiny even in a naive implementation, but can be taken to extremes as well: https://pygmy.utoh.org/3ins4th.html




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: