4 ms·
Starting with the 386, the ISA got a lot more compiler friendly. Up to 286, each register had a specialised task (AX,CX,DX,BX means Accumulator, Count, Data,Ba
by hyperman1 1y ago
Starting with the 386, the ISA got a lot more compiler friendly. Up to 286, each register had a specialised task (AX,CX,DX,BX means Accumulator, Count, Data,Base register). Instructions worked with specific regs only (xlat, loop). When 386 and 32 bits happened, the instructions became more generic and easily combinable with any register. I remember people raving over the power of the SIB byte or the possibility to multiply any pair of register. While not RISC, it got clearly more easy for compilers to work with the ISA, and I remember reading in magazines that this was an explicit design intention.