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Hardware/software tradeoffs for increased performance

Published: 01 March 1982 Publication History
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  • Abstract

    Most new computer architectures are concerned with maximizing performance by providing suitable instruction sets for compiled code and providing support for systems functions. We argue that the most effective design methodology must make simultaneous tradeoffs across all three areas: hardware, software support, and systems support. Recent trends lean towards extensive hardware support for both the compiler and operating systems software. However, consideration of all possible design tradeoffs may often lead to less hardware support. Several examples of this approach are presented, including: omission of condition codes, word-addressed machines, and imposing pipeline interlocks in software. The specifics and performance of these approaches are examined with respect to the MIPS processor.

    References

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    DEC VAX11 Architecture Handbook. Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, MA., 1979.
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    Hennessy, J.L., Jouppi, N., Baskett, F., and Gill, J. MIPS: A VLSI Processor Architecture. Proc. CMU Conference on VLSI Systems and Computations, October, 1981.
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    Johnson, S.C. A 32-Bit Processor Design. Tech. Rept. Computing Science #80, Bell Labortories, Murray Hill, April, 1979.
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    Shustek, L.J. Analysis and Performance of Computer Instruction Sets. Ph.D. Th., Stanford University, May 1977. Also published as SLAC Report 205.

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    Published In

    cover image ACM SIGPLAN Notices
    ACM SIGPLAN Notices  Volume 17, Issue 4
    Proceedings of the 1982 symposium on Architectural support for programming languages and operating systems
    April 1982
    209 pages
    ISSN:0362-1340
    EISSN:1558-1160
    DOI:10.1145/960120
    Issue’s Table of Contents
    • cover image ACM Conferences
      ASPLOS I: Proceedings of the first international symposium on Architectural support for programming languages and operating systems
      March 1982
      209 pages
      ISBN:0897910664
      DOI:10.1145/800050
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 01 March 1982
    Published in SIGPLAN Volume 17, Issue 4

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