One of my working-life mottos was (& still is):
Never do anything by hand if you can get a machine to do it for you!
And i stand by that - i learned it the hard way while trying to foot it in heavy manual jobs with guys the size of All Black forwards with hands almost bigger than my head. These guys could casually pick things up & walk away with them - i had to think! And be on good terms with the fork-lift/crane driver!
So when i read this account of the design layout of the MOS6502, i was gobsmacked. The guy who did the layout made not a single mistake in a design involving 3510 transistors (modern CPUs have several hundred million) & he did it all by hand!!
We take a great deal for granted in our Age of Technology, not least the idea that we can boot up our capabilities with machinery of various kinds that make hitherto difficult jobs easier (& faster) & in some cases practically impossible jobs possible.
Somewhere in my messy house is a little book about the humble screw-driver (yes, & it's an interesting story too). Along the way, the author delves into the history of screws, nuts & bolts (once made by hand to fit each other & tied together with string because they were unique & not inter-changeable) & the engineers who revolutionized manufacturing (the word itself is now a bit of a misnomer because it's derived from the Latin meaning 'made by hand').
For more on the MOS6502 tho', read about this account by Brian Bagnall.
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