3 ms·
> x86-64 is straight up a pretty clean architecture, with a memory model that doesn't suck I wouldn't go that far. In particular, the encoding of instructions
by pcwalton 10y ago
> x86-64 is straight up a pretty clean architecture, with a memory model that doesn't suck
I wouldn't go that far. In particular, the encoding of instructions in x86-64 makes zero sense except for backwards compatibility. Since all code is littered with REX prefixes, you have the same i-cache footprint as RISC architectures do without the benefits (die area for decoding, etc.).
If you fixed the instruction encoding, extended the three-address forms of instructions introduced in AVX2 to scalar integer operations, and finally threw away real mode and port mapped I/O, etc., I agree that x86-64 would be pretty nice. I'd be happy to get even one of those improvements, honestly :)