System/360 was quite an engineering feat, with an architecture developed first which supported different implementations, including using microcode or not being part of the implementation details.

From the Wikipedia entry on the generic System/360 [1]:

«System/360's chief architect was Gene Amdahl and the project was managed by Fred Brooks, responsible to Chairman Thomas J. Watson Jr.»

Gene Amdahl [2] formulated the eponymous scaling law [3], while Fred Brooks [4] was the author of “The Mythical Man Month” [5], and Thomas J. Watson Jr. [6] was IBM’s second president, who managed the mainframe era of IBM. Watson, the expert system supercomputer that beat Jeopardy! in 2011 [7] was named after his father, IBM’s original founder.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/360
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Amdahl
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl's_law
[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Brooks
[5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
[6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Watson_Jr.
[7]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Watson
https://stefanbohacek.online/@discontinued/115797198191231974

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IBM System/360 - Wikipedia

MIST1121/BLIPPYPIXEL-IBM360

Mistigram: @blippypixel has drawn this #BBCMicro animation of a #mainframe computer suite (and its 9-track vacuum column magnetic tape drives!) from the flexible #IBMSystem360 family of machines, sold for a bit over a decade starting in 1965. This piece was included in the MIST1121 artpack collection.

#BBCMicro #blippypixel #IBMSystem360 #mainframe #MIST1121

Mistodon: @pixelblip has drawn this #BBCMicro animation of a #mainframe computer suite (and its 9-track vacuum column magnetic tape drives!) from the flexible #IBMSystem360 family of machines, sold for a bit over a decade starting in 1965. This piece was included in the MIST1121 artpack collection.
Frederick P. Brooks Jr., Computer Design Innovator, Dies at 91

He was a lead designer of the computers that cemented IBM’s dominance for decades. He later wrote a book on software engineering that became a quirky classic.

The New York Times
COMPUTER HISTORY: REMEMBERING THE IBM SYSTEM/360 MAINFRAME, its Origin and Technology (IRS, NASA)

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