The University of Manchester MU5 Project

MU5 was the fifth computer system to be designed and built at the University of Manchester, England, in succession for a series of innovative projects dating back to the late 1940s. MU5 introduced a number of new ideas-particularly in terms of its instruction set, which was designed with high-level language compilation in mind and novel uses for associative stores. The technical aspects of the project have been well-documented in numerous papers and a book. This paper presents a history of the development of the MU5 hardware and the way in which the system was brought to life. It also explains some of the thinking that went into the design of MU5 and reflects on the success of the project.

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