4 ms·
But we define the RISC dream as a dream that efficiency, performance and low-cost could be achieved by cores with very small instruction sets?
by impossiblefork 2y ago
But we define the RISC dream as a dream that efficiency, performance and low-cost could be achieved by cores with very small instruction sets?
- flanked-evergl 2y agoIf adding more instructions negatively impacts efficiency, performance, cost and complexity, nobody would do it.
- foldr 2y agoProbably true now, but in ye olde days, some instructions existed primarily to make assembly programming more convenient. Assembly programming is a real pain in the RISCiest of RISC architectures, like SPARC. Here's an example from https://www.cs.clemson.edu/course/cpsc827/material/Code%20Generation/SPARC%20Reference%20Card.pdf https://www.cs.clemson.edu/course/cpsc827/material/Code%20Ge...: • All branches (including the one caused by CALL, below) take place after execution of the following instruction. • The position immediately after a branch is the “delay slot” and the instruction found there is the “delay instruction”. • If possible, place a useful instruction in the delay slot (one which can safely be done whether or not a conditional branch is taken). • If not, place a NOP in the delay slot. • Never place any other branch instruction in a delay slot. • Do not use SET in a delay slot (only half of it is really there).
- pjc50 2y agoDelay slots were such a hack. ARM never needed them.
- patmorgan23 2y agoOnly if decoder complexity/ efficiency is you bottleneck
- fanf2 2y agoNot small instruction sets, simplified instruction sets. RISC’s main trick is to reduce the number of addressing modes (eg, no memory indirect instructions) and reduce the number of memory operands per instruction to 0 or 1. Use the instruction encoding space for more registers instead. The surviving CISCs, x86 and z390 are the least CISCy CISCs. The surviving RISCs, arm and power, are the least RISCy RISCs. RISC V is a weird throwback in some aspects of its instruction set design.
- panick21_ 2y agoLets be real, its about business models. POWER was and is backed by IBM. ARM won on mobile. Does this mean POWER and ARM are better then MIPS, SPARC, PA-RISC, Am29000, i860? I don't think so.
- Symmetry 2y agoMore details on how RISCy or CISCy various chips are: https://userpages.umbc.edu/~vijay/mashey.on.risc.html https://userpages.umbc.edu/~vijay/mashey.on.risc.html Notably x86 is one of the less CISCy CISCs so it looks like there might be a happy medium.