Abstract
The expenditure of resources to provide via software more structure and more function in conventional machines hasbecome excessive. The answer to this problem may consist in providing more structure and more function in hardware. With respect to structure, we describe 1) the binary tree as basic data and control structure, 2) the implementation of a binary tree by a conventional memory, and 3) the associated hardware. The most important enhancement with respect to function, the newly introduced unit of action, deals with the handling of variables and substitution. Syntax and semantics of the resulting machine language are explained. We demonstrate how the familiar constructs of high-level programming languages could be expressed in this machine language. We explain the reasons why the proposed architecture should have significant advantages with respect to multiprogramming, parallel processing, and interactive programming. Copyright © 1971 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.