Section 1
Microcomputer Families
The Intel 8080 Family
Chapter 37 traces the evolution of the Intel 8080/8086 microcomputer family. The family was unplanned, and new technology was used to enhance both raw performance and functionality. Because of the limits on single-chip complexity when the microcomputer was launched in 1971, the Intel ISP base represented by the Intel 4004 was in many ways more primitive than the PDP-8. Hence ISP-level family constraints were not imposed until the successors to the Intel 8080 were created. These successors sought either machine code-level or assembly language-level compatibility with the Intel 8080 (i.e., the user's symbolic source code for the Intel 8080 could be reassembled for the Intel 8086).
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