Ask HN: Weirdest Computer Architecture?

1. movfuscator

   1 85 9,798 0.0 C

   The single instruction C compiler

   

   > As long as someone else implements the compiler.

   A C compiler exists already, based on LCC, and it's called the movfuscator.

   https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscator

2. Stream

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3. triton-vm

   2 1 256 9.1 Rust

   Triton is a virtual machine that comes with Algebraic Execution Tables (AET) and Arithmetic Intermediate Representations (AIR) for use in combination with a STARK proof system.

   

   https://github.com/TritonVM/triton-vm

4. risc0

   3 9 1,931 9.8 C++

   RISC Zero is a zero-knowledge verifiable general computing platform based on zk-STARKs and the RISC-V microarchitecture.

   

   https://github.com/risc0/risc0

5. wokwi-verilog-gds-test

   4 29 55 10.0 Verilog

   

   That is quite interesting. Seems quite easy and efficient to implement in an FPGA. Heck, one could make an ASIC for it via TinyTapeout - https://tinytapeout.com/

6. mvs38j

   5 1 3 2.7 Dockerfile

   Run MVS 3.8J inside Docker.

   

   I put MVS 3.8J in a Docker image: https://github.com/skissane/mvs38j

   Not TSO/E rather just plain old TSO. Not HLASM rather its predecessor Assembler F (IFOX00). Still, if you get the hang of the 1970s version, the 2020s version is just adding stuff. And some of the stuff it is adding is less unfamiliar (like Unix and Java)

7. simh

   6 9 557 5.7 C

   The Open SIMH simulators package (by open-simh)

   

   > "There's no fundamental problem with getting a modern Unix to run on a VAX except for all the details"

   Pretty much. The main issue with modern Unx on a VAX is memory size & performance, which combine to make native compiling under recent gcc versions "problematic", so cross building in gcc-10 or 12 is much easier.

   The profusion of (from today's perspective) whacky addressing modes have made maintaining gcc for VAX more effort that it would be otherwise, but it's still there and in use for one modern UNx https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/vax/ :)

   You can download https://opensimh.org/ to get a VAX emulator and boot up to play

   Simh also emulates a selection of other interesting and unusual architectures https://opensimh.org/simulators/

8. duckduckgo-locales

   7 2,262 100 9.9 Perl

   Translation files for <a href="https://duckduckgo.com"> </a>

   

   Nag nag...(meant inspirational in case you're unaware of it)...

   Regarding Amdahl's law and avoiding its complications this fits:

   https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Apple-CORE+D-RISC+SVP+Microgrids+U...

   (Not limited to SPARC, conceptually it's applicable almost anywhere else)

   From the software-/programming-/compiler-side this fits right on top it:

   https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Dybvig+Nanopass

   (Also conceptually, doesn't have to be Scheme, but why not? It's nice.)

9. InfluxDB

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