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>"MIX/MMIX are close to how CPUs work physically." What is MIX/MMIX? Is this something specific to the SICP book?
by bogomipz 6y ago
>"MIX/MMIX are close to how CPUs work physically."
What is MIX/MMIX? Is this something specific to the SICP book?
- Jtsummers 6y agoFrom Knuth’s The Art of Computer Programming. MIX is the earlier version, MMIX is the more recent (though now 20 or so years old) version. They are descriptions of a computer architecture and machine instructions used to explore algorithms in his books. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMIX https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMIX
- astrange 6y agoKnuth's TAOCP was originally written in an imaginary 60s-style CISC assembly called MIX (with some oddities like being decimal) but newer editions are in a RISC style one called MMIX (which Knuth claims is more practical but really isn't.)
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoWell, all I can say about that is that I read through the MMIX supplement and did a bunch of the exercises, and I know have enough knowledge to vaguely understand assembly. It hasn't been massively useful to me in my professional life (I'm a data scientist), but it definitely has helped me to gain a deeper appreciation of how computing works.
- astrange 6y agoBy practical I meant it's hard to implement in hardware. As far as I know it's easy to learn, having register windows is just kind of weird.
- disgruntledphd2 6y agoAh OK. I guess that makes sense (especially as Knuth implemented its interpreter in C, as documented in MMIXware).