Mail Archives: djgpp/1999/12/15/13:18:08
In article <SvT44.3190$5v1 DOT 93319 AT dfiatx1-snr1 DOT gtei DOT net>, NOSP AT Musenet
says...
> "Martin Peach" <martin AT loplop DOT com> wrote:
> >
> > An architecture that uses a separate memory space for
> > the stack would be preferable, but that doesn't seem to
> > be in the works,
>
> Mostly because programs need access to their stack
> through a register, and Intel severely lacks registers.
> Enter PowerPC. Thirty-two 32-bit integer registers.
> Velocity Engine(tm) on the G4 makes the CPU a
> 128-bit powerhouse. No wonder the latest Power
> Macintosh computers are personal supercomputers.
> But this is swinging way off-topic in a c.o.m.* newsgroup.
Going even more off-topic: Take a look at Intel's IA-64 architecture--it
has a processor managed register stack (!). The processor has an
enormous number of registers: 128 64-bit GP integer registers, 128 80-bit
FP registers, and 64 1-bit predicate registers. The integer registers
can be "allocated" (there's actually an opcode called "alloc") by
subroutines to give local, input, and output register space for parameter
passing and local variables. The processor actually has a unit which
manages internal register "stack" frames and automatically moves the
oldest ones out to RAM. The whole thing has a feeling (to a computer
engineer) of being truly _designed_ like no other processor to date. I'm
looking forward to owning one :).
--
Peter Johnson locke AT mcs DOT net
:Windows: Where do you want to go today?
:Linux: Where do you want to go tomorrow?
:FreeBSD: Are you guys coming or what?
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