Editing Data General Nova (section)

===Programming model===
The [[instruction set|instruction format]] could be broadly categorized into one of three functions: <nowiki>1) register-to-register manipulation, 2) memory reference, and 3)</nowiki> input/output. Each instruction was contained in one word. The register-to-register manipulation was almost [[RISC]]-like in its bit-efficiency; and an instruction that manipulated register data could also perform tests, shifts and even elect to discard the result. Hardware options included an integer multiply and divide unit, a [[floating-point unit]] (single and double precision), and [[memory management]].

[[File:Dg-papertapes.jpg|thumb|288px|right|Data General software on [[punched tape]]]]
The earliest Nova came with a [[BASIC]] interpreter on [[punched tape]]. As the product grew, Data General developed many languages for the Nova computers, running under a range of consistent operating systems. [[FORTRAN IV]], [[ALGOL]], Extended BASIC, [[Data General Business Basic]], Interactive [[COBOL]], and several assemblers were available from Data General. Third-party vendors and the user community expanded the offerings with [[Forth (programming language)|Forth]], [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], [[BCPL]], [[C (programming language)|C]], [[ALGOL]], and other proprietary versions of [[COBOL]] and [[BASIC]].