3 ms·
It's just because x86 as an ISA has accreted over the course of 40+ years, and has variable-length instructions. Every time they extend the ISA they carve out p
by jeffbee 3y ago
It's just because x86 as an ISA has accreted over the course of 40+ years, and has variable-length instructions. Every time they extend the ISA they carve out part of the opcode space to squeeze in a new prefix. This will only continue, considering that Intel has proposed another new scheme this year.