Re: The RISC penalty

dlmoore@ix.netcom.com (David L Moore) writes:


| So, it sounds like one should build a RISC chip without many wasted
| bits! There is no reason why you cannot build a RISC machine with
| variable length instructions - the first RISC like machine (the CDC
| 6600) did just that. Variable length instructions make multi-issue
| harder because you first have to find the start of the instructions,
| which adds a few gate delays, but the only time this actually slows
| you down is when you just mis-predicted a branch. Otherwise, it just
| adds some real-estate to your instruction decoding logic.


Well it depends on how you view the instruction stream. True variable sized
instructions are a pain, but did it in terms of 60-bit words (ie, instructions
would not cross a word boundary, so if you wanted to use a 30-bit instruction,
and there are only 15 bits left in the word, you have to put a NOP, and start
on the next word).
--
Michael Meissner, Cygnus Support (East Coast)
Suite 105, 48 Grove Street, Somerville, MA 02144, USA
meissner@cygnus.com, 617-629-3016 (office), 617-629-3010 (fax)
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