4
The use of second generation computers made several
simplifications possible.
1. Due to core memory it was now not necessary to time
optimize the program
2. This facilitated the use of floating point
routines, if time was not of extreme importance.
3. Assemblers which were easier to compose for core
computers were available for more efficient
assembler programming .
4. New fast access storage devices such as the
magnetic disk could easily be added relieving the
problem of limited memory, working with overlays .
be) Another approach
was of course to overcome the limitations of the
existing computer
by building an interface to a large third generation computer.
This was carried out for the AP/C installation at the University
of New Brunswick from 1968 to 1970.
This version 2 of the AP/C was equipped with a Bendix
AP/C computer and with additional controls to the zoom
optic for rotation and magnification.
The advatages of k third generation computer, such as the
IBM 360/50 wer* obvious:
They consisted in
1. floating point hardware
2. higher speed
3. larger storage
4. the large possibility of fast storage and I/O devices