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Born in the 70s, I'm everywhere today.
I start as real but get in people's way.
After generations, I still remember my roots.
Look closely, you'll find biology in my boots.
When I'm protected I perform at my best.
You'll see me with flags after a test.
For purists I offer no charm.
I have an eye but no arm.
What am I?
Is it
An Intel x86 processor
Born in the 70s, I'm everywhere today.
The first x86 chip, the 8086, was introduced in 1978.
I start as real but get in people's way.
The 286 architecture introduced protected mode, but they still booted in real mode for compatibility reasons.
After generations, I still remember my roots.
Each new processor design was referred to as a generation, but they remain backward compatible with the earlier generations
Look closely, you'll find biology in my boots.
The computer boots from a BIOS, which contains the word Bio
When I'm protected I perform at my best.
Protected mode enables features like virtual memory and paging, which are pretty important in a modern computer
You'll see me with flags after a test.
The FLAGS register is the status register in Intel chips, and the TEST assembly instruction results in 3 flags being modified.
For purists I offer no charm.
A purist might prefer a RISC architecture
I have an eye but no arm.
Intel begins with an I, and ARM are a competitor.
Is it
a Macintosh
Born in the 70s, I'm everywhere today.
Apple was created in 1976 and now it's products are everywhere
I start as real but get in people's way.
the older Mac are useless now
After generations, I still remember my roots.
Apple products keep the same names generations after generations
Look closely, you'll find biology in my boots.
older versions of MacOS X used animals as codenames
When I'm protected I perform at my best.
viruses are not fun and apple products are no exception
You'll see me with flags after a test.
in programming flags are used to indicate that a certain event has taken place and are useful when you want to test something
For purists I offer no charm.
some might say that linux is better
I have an eye but no arm.
there is an "I" at the begining of "iMac" but they don't use ARM processors (for now)
