ACM provides a large number of online resources for its members, some of which you may not be aware of. In an attempt to rectify this situation, we are introducing a monthly column listing the most popular downloads in three categories: refereed journal and conference papers, magazines and survey articles, and online courses. The three […]
David A. Patterson
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As I review performance trends, I am struck by a consistent theme across many technologies: bandwidth improves much more quickly than latency. Here, I list a half-dozen performance milestones to document this observation, many reasons why it happens, a few ways to cope with it, a rule of thumb to quantify it, plus an example of how to design systems differently based on this observation.
Reduced instruction set computers
Reduced instruction set computers aim for both simplicity in hardware and synergy between architectures and compilers. Optimizing compilers are used to compile programming languages down to instructions that are as unencumbered as microinstructions in a large virtual address space, and to make the instruction cycle time as fast as possible.
An experiment in high level language microprogramming and verification
The STRUM system was created to apply software engineering techniques to microprogramming. It provides the tools that allow the microprogrammer to use high level language, structured programming, and formal program verification to create emulations for a horizontally microprogrammed computer. This system is evaluated in two parts: (1) High level microprogramming language design and its use in structured microprogramming; and (2) Verification of a large microprogram. Both parts of this evaluation include experimental results. Part I includes a comparison of an emulation created using traditional techniques to the same emulation created using the STRUM system. Part II describes the formal verification of a 1700 line program that was immediately subjected to extensive testing. This work provides new results on the efficiency of high level microprogramming languages, the effectiveness of peephole optimization for microcode and the practicality of formal microprogram verification.
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