abe@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Vic Abell) (11/03/88)
In article <7493@well.UUCP>, ejf@well.UUCP (Erik James Freed) writes: > I think it was Seymour Cray who was quoted as saying > "Parity is for farmers" The actual story is even more amusing. Cray's first big machine, the 6600, didn't have parity. When asked about it, Seymour did say "Parity is for farmers!" However, when he designed his next big machine, the 7600, he included memory parity checking and someone asked him about his change of heart. In reply he is reported to have said, "I learned that a lot of farmers buy computers." :-)
yap@hammer.me.toronto.edu () (11/04/88)
In article <960@mace.cc.purdue.edu> abe@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Vic Abell) writes: >In article <7493@well.UUCP>, ejf@well.UUCP (Erik James Freed) writes: >> I think it was Seymour Cray who was quoted as saying >> "Parity is for farmers" > >The actual story is even more amusing. Cray's first big machine, the >6600, didn't have parity. When asked about it, Seymour did say "Parity >is for farmers!" However, when he designed his next big machine, the >7600, he included memory parity checking and someone asked him about his >change of heart. In reply he is reported to have said, "I learned that >a lot of farmers buy computers." :-) It's even more amusing than that. Seems your federal government wouldn't buy any computers that didn't have parity checking!