While I'm not sure that I agree that the 8051 is the "grandson" of the 4004 (great-grandson, maybe) the Intel folks seemed to think the 8080 was the grandson. From what I gathered, the 8048 was a parent of the 805x-series, rather than the contemporaneous 8080. The latter was probably an "uncle" rather than a parent, and the physical architecture (external status register, etc.) seems to link the 8080 more closely to the 8008 (a scion of 4004 ?) than the 8048 is linked to them.

If you see the early PALASM code as an item of interest, then, by all means, dig into it! I'm not sure what information you can glean from this old code, unrelated to current technology devices. The strategies underlying the reduction of logic equations (the old version didn't support state machine syntax, if's, etc.) probably hasn't changed, but there are probably better Quine-McCluskey method implementations available by now.

This inherent curiosity about how things were done in the past is a really good thing. Studying how things were done leads to understanding how the underlying thought processes were developed. It can, though it often doesn't, lead to a better way. Maybe that's where this will lead.

In any event, I'd recommend anyone interested in programmable logic be familiar with this very useful tool. It's capable of handling quite a number of still-very-popular devices, e.g. 22V10, 16V8, 20RA10, and a range of still-available MACH CPLD's. The MACHXL manual that's pointed to on the same site as the executables indicates that MACHXL has the same basic syntax as the PALASM IV v1.5, so that should clear up any questions. The SPLD's, 22V10 and smaller, are often very useful in small MCU designs. It's not wise to overlook such a good and useful, and FREE, tool for implementing them.

RE