[_a_a_a_]

I'm glad you like the possibility of using the addition symbol or some variation on it. The idea that it would be ISA independent never crossed my mind, and perhaps just as well because as you pointed out, it would bomb. For that (ie. portability), use an HLL.

I fully understand your criticism, entirely correct, that machine arithmetic does not behave like mathematical arithmetic. I diverged from you where you say that '+' is mathematical therefore has a predetermined meaning. It has a conventional mathematical interpretation, often related to number addition, but it is a convention only and can be bent as far as you like provided you're clear about it (and a bit of common sense too; defining '+' as a square root operation would be pretty bloody stupid). No symbol in mathematics has any intrinsic meaning, including '+'.

Thanks for interesting discussion!