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The problem is that potentially-overflowing integer instructions make a real mess out of things like out-of-order execution and speculative execution. For data
by al2o3cr 12y ago
The problem is that potentially-overflowing integer instructions make a real mess out of things like out-of-order execution and speculative execution.
For data to back this, see your favorite computer architecture reference, particularly anything that discusses the consequences of highly-complex instructions in things like the VAX.
- brigade 12y agoCiting stuff from the 80s RISC movement is pretty outdated nowadays, especially in this specific case where quintessential RISC architectures such as MIPS implemented trapping arithmetic instructions from the start.
- solarexplorer 12y agoTo the contrary, out-of-order execution and speculative execution make precise exceptions trivial to support. As long as exceptions are not frequent, there is no performance pentalty either. It's the older in-order pipelines who struggle with precise exceptions. But there are well-known tricks to work around that too...