Comparison of PDP-11, PDP-8 and the NOVA

This document is an interoffice memorandum from John Cohen at Digital Equipment Corporation, dated January 11, 1969. It reports the results of a benchmark study comparing the newly designed PDP-11 instruction set against the PDP-8 and the Data General NOVA. The study utilized five test problems (including character manipulation, arithmetic, and subroutine linkage) to evaluate performance based on instruction bit efficiency and execution time (in memory cycles). The findings demonstrate that the PDP-11 is significantly more efficient in memory usage and faster in execution speed than both the PDP-8 and the NOVA. The memo includes detailed flow charts, raw data tables, and analysis of why the PDP-11 outperformed the competing machines, concluding that the product has 'unlimited potential' due to its performance and low price.