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RFC 473 UNKNOWN META · PROGRAMMING

MIX and MIXAL?

A one-paragraph query asking whether any ARPANET host offers an interpreter and assembler for Knuth's MIX computer.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
February 1973
AUTHORS
D.C. Walden
STREAM
Legacy
DOI
10.17487/RFC0473

RFC text

Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗ 
Network Working Group                                          D. Walden
Request for Comments: 473                                        BBN-NET
NIC: 14811                                              28 February 1973


                             MIX and MIXAL?

   Is there an interpreter for Knuth's hypothetical computer, MIX,
   together with an assemble for the MIX assembly language, MIXAL,
   available on any ARPA Network Host? If not, will not some Network
   Host make them available (cheaply)?--it would be considerable service
   to all of us who are students of the "Art of Computer Programming."


          [This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry]
     [into the online RFC archives by Helene Morin, Via Genie 12/1999]

AI ELI5

On this page
PROBLEMStudents of Knuth's Art of Computer Programming needed a way to run programs for MIX, the book's hypothetical computer, and to assemble programs written in MIXAL.
MECHANISMThe RFC simply asks whether any ARPA Network host already offers a MIX interpreter and a MIXAL assembler, and if not, asks whether some host will make them available cheaply.
WHAT IT ASKSIt is a request, not a specification. The RFC itself records no answer.

§1The Question

This RFC, from D. Walden of BBN-NET and dated 28 February 1973, is a single question. It asks whether an interpreter for MIX, Knuth's hypothetical computer, is available on any ARPA Network host, together with an assembler for the MIX assembly language, MIXAL.

MIX is a pretend computer from a book. The author asks whether anyone on the network has a program that can act like it.

§2Who Wants It and Why

The author describes the audience as students of the Art of Computer Programming. Having MIX and MIXAL available on a network host would, in the RFC's words, be a considerable service to all of them.

The RFC adds that, if no host has these tools, it hopes some Network Host will make them available cheaply.

People reading the book want to try its examples on a real machine, and a pretend computer needs a helper program to run on a real one.

§3What the RFC Settles

The RFC defines no protocol and no format, and it gives no answer to its own question. It is an early example of the RFC series being used to ask the community for a resource rather than to specify a standard.

It is a note on a bulletin board that says, does anyone have this? The note does not say who answered.