Burroughs Large Systems Descriptors

Burroughs Large Systems Descriptors

Descriptors are an architectural feature of Burroughs large systems, including the current (as of 2006) Unisys Clearpath/MCP systems. Apart from being stack- and tag-based, a notable architectural feature of these systems is that it is descriptor-based. Descriptors are the means of having data that does not reside on the stack as for arrays and objects. Descriptors are also used for string data as in compilers and commercial applications.

Read more about Burroughs Large Systems Descriptors:  Details, Usage in Compilers, Integration in Memory Architecture, Memory Management, Buffer Overflow Protection

Famous quotes containing the words burroughs, large and/or systems:

    “No atomic physicist has to worry, people will always want to kill other people on a mass scale. Sure, he’s got the fridge full of sausages and spring water.”
    —William Burroughs (b. 1914)

    “Guilt plays a large part in my life.”
    —Christine Zajac, U.S. fifth-grade teacher. As quoted in Among Schoolchildren, “September” section, part 3, by Tracy Kidder (1989)

    “People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
    —Don Delillo (b. 1926)