3 ms·
If you search for the phrase "To add more 'regular' instructions" in part 1, you'll see where he references 8 or 9 bit instructions. The author goes on, in subs
by prutschman 12y ago
If you search for the phrase "To add more 'regular' instructions" in part 1, you'll see where he references 8 or 9 bit instructions. The author goes on, in subsequent sections, to expand the idea of tokenized jump references to tokenized instructions.
Each instruction token may only be 8 or 9 bits, but the secondary memory which contains jump targets is expanded to also contain full-width instructions.
The operating hypothesis is that just it's desirable to be able to "reach" any 32-bit destination address despite any given code segment not needing that flexibility, it's likewise desirable to be able to execute any, say, 36-bit instruction even though any given code segment only needs a subset of them.
It's really worth a read.