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Historians Recreate Source Code of First 4004 Application

Posted by Zonk on from the really-hard-to-dig-through-bits-and-bytes dept.

mcpublic writes "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.'"

18 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. And best of all by Dusty · · Score: 4, Funny

    You can still run it on the latest Intel x86 chips. ;)

  2. slashdot headline, 2057: by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Historians Recreate Source Code of First 404 Error Message"

    (truth be told, quick scanning the headlines, that's what my brain registered)

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  3. I hate to be a pendantic jerk, but... by gatekeep · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...an authentic calculator simulator..."

    What the hell is an authentic simulator?

    1. Re:I hate to be a pendantic jerk, but... by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 5, Funny

      Your hand?

      zing!

      --
      "The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
    2. Re:I hate to be a pendantic jerk, but... by Vegeta99 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Na way man, Jill never needs flowers or taken out to dinner. She's better than authentic!

  4. Re:Only 1024? by DragonWriter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would you rather the MS guys spend time seeing if they can force their 114k application down into 10k, or perhaps writing an operating system that doesn't suck?


    It'd be an improvement if MS did either.
  5. Re:Only 1024? by geekoid · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm pretty sure it had a GUI. I'f I were to guess, I'd say it was buttons...possibly with numbers on them.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  6. Quickly -- someone send this to MS by Eberlin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Quick, someone send this over to the folks who wrote Excel!

  7. the output is by geekoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    58008

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:the output is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Better than 55318008

  8. Re:uhhhh... by Cassius+Corodes · · Score: 2, Funny

    That is the correct answer - all modern calculators are descended from a competitor's model which incorrectly calculated 9+9 to be 18.

    --
    Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
  9. Re:Commander Keen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    How dare you learn something without authorization! This is a clear DMCA violation. Mr. Carmack's lawyers are on the way to your house now to execute you...errr, I mean execute their warrant to take all your computers and reclaim the code you stole. And you're distrubuting it too! Well now you're also a pirate. You're going away for a long time.

  10. Re:but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did it, but the ATI drivers still sucked.

  11. Re:Amazing! by Juliemac · · Score: 2, Funny

    The company I work for hired 4 programmers (from out of country) to re-work existing code and clear out known bugs. As a result, the log in no longer worked. 2 weeks later, the testers could get in, but none of the drop down boxes worked and more. Problem is they are wizards. They click and drop code with out understanding what the code does. The US trained programmers cant get the time of day from the head of IT.

  12. Where's the update? by lseltzer · · Score: 5, Funny

    I found a buffer overflow. Exploit code to follow...

  13. Re:Those were fun by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

    somewhere around 1982 a buddy of mine and myself disassembled and commented microsoft's basic for the trs-80 color computer.
    And you lived to tell the tale.
    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  14. Re:Those were fun by ozmanjusri · · Score: 2, Funny
    A little while later, he sold us the "first" 8008 in the area. Dick.

    Why the abuse?

    Did he overcharge you?

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  15. Re:Only 1024? by dotgain · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder why that acronym never caught on?