MIX is a hypothetical computer used in Donald Knuth's monograph, The Art of Computer Programming (TAOCP). MIX's model number is 1009, which was derived by combining the model numbers and names of several contemporaneous, commercial machines deemed significant by the author. (“MIX” also represents the value 1009 in Roman numerals.)
The 1960s-era MIX has since been superseded by a new (also hypothetical) computer architecture, MMIX, to be incorporated in forthcoming editions of TAOCP. Software implementations for both the MIX and MMIX architectures have been developed by Knuth and made freely available (named “MIXware” and “MMIXware”, respectively).
Several derivatives of Knuth's MIX/MMIX emulators also exist. GNU MDK is one such software package; it is free and runs on a wide variety of platforms.
Their purpose for education is quite similar to John L. Hennessy's and David A. Patterson's DLX architecture, from Computer Organization and Design - The Hardware Software Interface.
Read more about MIX: Architecture
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“No trace of slavery ought to mix with the studies of the freeborn man.... No study, pursued under compulsion, remains rooted in the memory.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)