Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.albasani.net!news-transit.tcx.org.uk!tr22g12.aset.psu.edu!usenet.stanford.edu!news.iecc.com!nerds-end From: Charles Richmond Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.compilers,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Architecture / Instruction Set / Language co-design. Date: Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:10:17 -0500 Organization: Canine Computer Center Lines: 35 Sender: news@iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <11-07-033@comp.compilers> References: <11-07-028@comp.compilers> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.iecc.com X-Trace: gal.iecc.com 1311403193 69063 64.57.183.58 (23 Jul 2011 06:39:53 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@iecc.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:39:53 +0000 (UTC) Keywords: design Posted-Date: 23 Jul 2011 02:39:53 EDT X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.arch:2667 comp.compilers:209 On 7/18/11 5:26 PM, Mark Thorson wrote: > It could be argued that the National Semiconductor NS16032 (later > renamed NS32016) qualifies. The designers Les Kohn and Dan O'Dowd > started with an instruction set more-or-less based on the VAX and > pared it down to what they considered a minimum. Dan wrote a Pascal > compiler that guided the design of the architecture in the sense that > every time the chip designers in Israel asked whether they could > delete a feature Les would turn to Dan and ask how that would affect > the compiler. That chip was intended to be a general-purpose > architecture, but the compiler guided decisions on what features were > important. > > Four instructions were deleted relatively late in the design process, > and you can see the places where they would have been if you look at > any early 32000 family die. There are four clear stripes that span > the microcode ROM. I believe these are visible on all 32000 family > devices through the NS32332. If I remember correctly, the CPU was > reimplemented in the NS32532, at which point the stripes disappeared. > > [Too bad they didn't have time to debug the chip before they shipped > it. The NS chips, at least the early ones, were so buggy as to be > almost unusable. -John] Yes, I was very interested in the instruction descriptions for the NS32016. Seems it had a "CASE" assembly language instruction. But I heard that the chip had hardware problems that were *never* worked out... Too bad. -- +----------------------------------------+ | Charles and Francis Richmond | | | | plano dot net at aquaporin4 dot com | +----------------------------------------+