Podcast
Questions and Answers
Which architectural style is associated with the DEC PDP-8?
Which architectural style is associated with the DEC PDP-8?
- Load-store
- Accumulator (correct)
- Memory-memory
- Register-memory
What is the maximum number of general-purpose registers for the Intel 80386?
What is the maximum number of general-purpose registers for the Intel 80386?
- 1
- 8
- 16 (correct)
- 32
Which machine was first released in 1953 and adopted an accumulator architectural style?
Which machine was first released in 1953 and adopted an accumulator architectural style?
- CDC 6600
- Intel 8008
- IBM 701 (correct)
- EDVAC
Which of the following architectures was introduced in 1985 and utilizes a Load-store architecture with 32 general-purpose registers?
Which of the following architectures was introduced in 1985 and utilizes a Load-store architecture with 32 general-purpose registers?
Which architecture has the highest number of general-purpose registers listed?
Which architecture has the highest number of general-purpose registers listed?
What was the primary reason companies in the 1960s abandoned registers in their instruction sets?
What was the primary reason companies in the 1960s abandoned registers in their instruction sets?
Which architecture design philosophy was advanced in the 1960s to make hardware more compatible with high-level programming languages?
Which architecture design philosophy was advanced in the 1960s to make hardware more compatible with high-level programming languages?
What was a direct consequence of stack architectures for instruction encoding?
What was a direct consequence of stack architectures for instruction encoding?
What factor is associated with the perceived necessity of compact instruction encoding for Java?
What factor is associated with the perceived necessity of compact instruction encoding for Java?
Which of the following systems was noted as a commercial manifestation of high-level-language computer architecture?
Which of the following systems was noted as a commercial manifestation of high-level-language computer architecture?
What is the main advantage of the register-memory architecture in the context of the 80386?
What is the main advantage of the register-memory architecture in the context of the 80386?
In which architecture was the concept of memory-memory style introduced?
In which architecture was the concept of memory-memory style introduced?
What feature is true for the variable-length instructions used in architectures like Intel x86 and VAX?
What feature is true for the variable-length instructions used in architectures like Intel x86 and VAX?
Which of the following options accurately describes the instruction sizes of Intel x86 and VAX architectures?
Which of the following options accurately describes the instruction sizes of Intel x86 and VAX architectures?
What is one significant benefit of using smaller code sizes in architectures like ARM and MIPS?
What is one significant benefit of using smaller code sizes in architectures like ARM and MIPS?
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Study Notes
Machine Architectures
- EDSAC used an Accumulator architecture in 1949 with 1 general-purpose register.
- IBM 701 followed the same Accumulator style with 1 register in 1953.
- CDC 6600 transitioned to Load-store architecture with a significant jump to 8 general-purpose registers in 1963.
- IBM 360 marked a shift towards Register-memory architecture in 1964 with 16 registers.
- DEC PDP-8 reverted to Accumulator architecture in 1965 with 1 register.
- DEC PDP-11 introduced Register-memory architecture with 8 registers in 1970.
- Intel 8008 and Motorola 6800 both employed Accumulator architecture in 1972 and 1974, respectively.
- DEC VAX became the first to utilize both Register-memory and memory-memory architectures in 1977.
- Intel 8086 introduced a Extended accumulator architecture in 1978.
- Motorola 68000 followed the Register-memory style in 1980.
- Intel 80386 further refined Register-memory architecture with 8 registers in 1985.
- ARM, MIPS, and HP PA-RISC all adopted Load-store in 1985 and 1986.
- SPARC and PowerPC followed with Load-store architectures in 1987 and 1992.
- DEC Alpha also utilized Load-store architecture in 1992.
- HP/Intel IA-64 had 128 registers using Load-store in 2001.
- AMD64 (EMT64 used Register-memory with 16 registers in 2003.
- RISC-V utilized Load-store architecture with 32 registers in 2010.
Trends in Computer Architecture
- Register-memory Architectures dominated the 1960s and early 1970s.
- IBM 360, a Register-memory architecture, is still used in IBM mainframes today.
- DEC VAX, introduced in 1977, allowed flexible operand combination (registers and memory).
- Memory-memory Architectures enable all operands to reside in memory.
- Intel x86 has various 64-bit add instructions based on operand location (memory or register).
- Compact Code Architectures focused on minimizing code size due to limited memory resources.
- Variable-length instructions were employed in the Intel x86, IBM 360, and VAX to adapt to varying operand needs and optimize code size.
- ARM, MIPS, and RISC-V all incorporated 16-bit and 32-bit instruction formats (Thumb, MIPS-16, RISC-V Compressed), reducing code by 25% to 30%.
- Stack Architectures, while simplifying compilation, were not commercially successful.
- Java encouraged compact instruction encoding due to limited memory in embedded systems and efficiency in online transmission.
Language-Oriented Computer Architecture
- High-level-language computer architecture aimed to make hardware more aligned with programming languages, but it fell out of favor.
- RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture emerged in the 1980s as a more practical alternative.
- CLU and Simula-67 influenced the development of object-oriented programming languages like C++.
- Oak, later renamed Java, was developed as an object-oriented language for embedded devices and gained popularity for web browsers, business applications, and academic teaching.
- Java encourages code reuse through libraries.
Key Milestones and Pioneers
- John Backus, John McCarthy, Niklaus Wirth, Dennis Ritchie, Ole-Johan Dahl, Kristen Nygaard, and Alan Key contributed significantly to programming languages and won ACM A.M. Turing Awards.
- Fortran, Lisp, Algol, C, Cobol, Pascal, Simula, Smalltalk, C++, and Java are notable languages in the development of computer programming and architecture.
- Richard Stallman developed the GNU C Compiler (gcc) as an open-source compiler, widely used today.
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