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Very Long Instruction Word
Very long instruction word (VLIW) refers to instruction set architectures that are designed to exploit instruction-level parallelism (ILP). A VLIW processor allows programs to explicitly specify instructions to execute in parallel, whereas conventional central processing units (CPUs) mostly allow programs to specify instructions to execute in sequence only. VLIW is intended to allow higher performance without the complexity inherent in some other designs. The traditional means to improve performance in processors include dividing instructions into sub steps so the instructions can be executed partly at the same time (termed ''pipelining''), dispatching individual instructions to be executed independently, in different parts of the processor (''superscalar architectures''), and even executing instructions in an order different from the program (''out-of-order execution''). These methods all complicate hardware (larger circuits, higher cost and energy use) because the processor mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instruction Set Architecture
In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an ''implementation'' of that ISA. In general, an ISA defines the supported instructions, data types, registers, the hardware support for managing main memory, fundamental features (such as the memory consistency, addressing modes, virtual memory), and the input/output model of implementations of the ISA. An ISA specifies the behavior of machine code running on implementations of that ISA in a fashion that does not depend on the characteristics of that implementation, providing binary compatibility between implementations. This enables multiple implementations of an ISA that differ in characteristics such as performance, physical size, and monetary cost (among other things), but t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wide-issue
A wide-issue architecture is a computer processor that issues more than one instruction per clock cycle. They can be considered in three broad types: * Statically-scheduled superscalar architectures execute instructions in the order presented; the hardware logic determines which instructions are ready and safe to dispatch on each clock cycle. * VLIW architectures rely on the programming software (compiler) to determine which instructions to dispatch on a given clock cycle. * Dynamically-scheduled superscalar architectures execute instructions in an order that gives the same result as the order presented; the hardware logic determines which instructions are ready and safe to dispatch on each clock cycle. See also *Out-of-order execution *Explicitly parallel instruction computing Explicitly parallel instruction computing (EPIC) is a term coined in 1997 by the Itanium, HP–Intel alliance to describe a computing paradigm that researchers had been investigating since the early 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arithmetic Logic Unit
In computing, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) is a Combinational logic, combinational digital circuit that performs arithmetic and bitwise operations on integer binary numbers. This is in contrast to a floating-point unit (FPU), which operates on floating point numbers. It is a fundamental building block of many types of computing circuits, including the central processing unit (CPU) of computers, FPUs, and graphics processing units (GPUs). The inputs to an ALU are the data to be operated on, called operands, and a code indicating the operation to be performed (opcode); the ALU's output is the result of the performed operation. In many designs, the ALU also has status inputs or outputs, or both, which convey information about a previous operation or the current operation, respectively, between the ALU and external status registers. Signals An ALU has a variety of input and output net (electronics), nets, which are the electrical conductors used to convey Digital signal (electroni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Harvard Architecture Single-Chip Computer
{{Distinguish, SuperH The Super Harvard Architecture Single-Chip Computer (SHARC) is a high performance floating-point and fixed-point DSP from Analog Devices. SHARC is used in a variety of signal processing applications ranging from audio processing, to single-CPU guided artillery shells to 1000-CPU over-the-horizon radar processing computers. The original design dates to about January 1994. SHARC processors are typically intended to have a good number of serial links to other SHARC processors nearby, to be used as a low-cost alternative to SMP. Architecture The SHARC is a Harvard architecture word-addressed VLIW processor; it knows nothing of 8-bit or 16-bit values since each address is used to point to a whole 32-bit word, not just an octet. It is thus neither little-endian nor big-endian, though a compiler may use either convention if it implements 64-bit data and/or some way to pack multiple 8-bit or 16-bit values into a single 32-bit word. In C, the characters are 32- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dependence Analysis
In compiler theory, dependence analysis produces execution-order constraints between statements/instructions. Broadly speaking, a statement ''S2'' depends on ''S1'' if ''S1'' must be executed before ''S2''. Broadly, there are two classes of dependencies--control dependencies and data dependencies. Dependence analysis determines whether it is safe to reorder or parallelize statements. Control dependencies Control dependency is a situation in which a program instruction executes if the previous instruction evaluates in a way that allows its execution. A statement ''S2'' is ''control dependent'' on ''S1'' (written S1\ \delta^c\ S2) if and only if ''S2s execution is conditionally guarded by ''S1''. ''S2'' is ''control dependent'' on ''S1'' if and only if S1 \in PDF(S2) where PDF(S) is the post dominance frontier of statement S. The following is an example of such a control dependence: S1 if x > 2 goto L1 S2 y := 3 S3 L1: z := y + 1 Here, ''S2'' only runs if ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instruction Pipelining
In computer engineering, instruction pipelining is a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a single processor. Pipelining attempts to keep every part of the processor busy with some instruction by dividing incoming instructions into a series of sequential steps (the eponymous "pipeline") performed by different processor units with different parts of instructions processed in parallel. Concept and motivation In a pipelined computer, instructions flow through the central processing unit (CPU) in stages. For example, it might have one stage for each step of the von Neumann cycle: Fetch the instruction, fetch the operands, do the instruction, write the results. A pipelined computer usually has "pipeline registers" after each stage. These store information from the instruction and calculations so that the logic gates of the next stage can do the next step. This arrangement lets the CPU complete an instruction on each clock cycle. It is common for even-nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Integrated Circuit
An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components are etched onto a small, flat piece ("chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Integrated circuits are used in a wide range of electronic devices, including computers, smartphones, and televisions, to perform various functions such as processing and storing information. They have greatly impacted the field of electronics by enabling device miniaturization and enhanced functionality. Integrated circuits are orders of magnitude smaller, faster, and less expensive than those constructed of discrete components, allowing a large transistor count. The IC's mass production capability, reliability, and building-block approach to integrated circuit design have ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minisupercomputer
Minisupercomputers constituted a short-lived class of computers that emerged in the mid-1980s, characterized by the combination of vector processing and small-scale multiprocessing. As scientific computing using vector processors became more popular, the need for lower-cost systems that might be used at the departmental level instead of the corporate level created an opportunity for new computer vendors to enter the market. As a generalization, the price targets for these smaller computers were one-tenth of the larger supercomputers. Several notable technical, economic, and political attributes characterize minisupercomputers. First, they were architecturally more diverse than prior mainframes and minicomputers in hardware and less diverse in software. Second, advances in VLSI made them less expensive (mini-price). These machines were market targeted to be cost-effective and quickly manufactured. Third, it is notable who did not manufacture minisupercomputers: within the USA, IBM ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiflow
{{no references, date=June 2019 Multiflow Computer, Inc., founded in April, 1984 near New Haven, Connecticut, USA, was a manufacturer and seller of minisupercomputer hardware and software embodying the VLIW design style. Multiflow, incorporated in Delaware, ended operations in March, 1990, after selling about 125 VLIW minisupercomputers in the United States, Europe, and Japan. While Multiflow's commercial success was small and short-lived, its technical success and the dissemination of its technology and people had a great effect on the future of computer science and the computer industry. Multiflow's computers were arguably the most novel ever to be broadly sold, programmed, and used like conventional computers. (Other novel computers either required novel programming, or represented more incremental steps beyond existing computers.) Along with Cydrome, an attached-VLIW minisupercomputer company that had less commercial success, Multiflow demonstrated that the VLIW design style w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory Architecture
Memory architecture describes the methods used to implement electronic computer data storage in a manner that is a combination of the fastest, most reliable, most durable, and least expensive way to store and retrieve information. Depending on the specific application, a compromise of one of these requirements may be necessary in order to improve another requirement. Memory architecture also explains how binary digits are converted into electric signals and then stored in the memory cells. And also the structure of a memory cell. For example, dynamic memory is commonly used for primary data storage due to its fast access speed. However dynamic memory must be repeatedly refreshed with a surge of current dozens of time per second, or the stored data will decay and be lost. Flash memory allows for long-term storage over a period of years, but it is much slower than dynamic memory, and the static memory storage cells wear out with frequent use. Similarly, the data bus is often desi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Register File
A register file is an array of processor registers in a central processing unit (CPU). The instruction set architecture of a CPU will almost always define a set of registers which are used to stage data between memory and the functional units on the chip. The register file is part of the architecture and visible to the programmer, as opposed to the concept of transparent caches. In simpler CPUs, these ''architectural registers'' correspond one-for-one to the entries in a physical register file (PRF) within the CPU. More complicated CPUs use register renaming, so that the mapping of which physical entry stores a particular architectural register changes dynamically during execution. Modern integrated circuit-based register files are usually implemented by way of fast static RAMs with multiple ports. Such RAMs are distinguished by having dedicated read and write ports, whereas ordinary multiported SRAMs will usually read and write through the same ports. Register banking is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complex Instruction Set Computing
A complex instruction set computer (CISC ) is a computer architecture in which single instructions can execute several low-level operations (such as a load from memory, an arithmetic operation, and a memory store) or are capable of multi-step operations or addressing modes within single instructions. The term was retroactively coined in contrast to reduced instruction set computer (RISC) and has therefore become something of an umbrella term for everything that is not RISC, where the typical differentiating characteristic is that most RISC designs use uniform instruction length for almost all instructions, and employ strictly separate load and store instructions. Examples of CISC architectures include complex mainframe computers to simplistic microcontrollers where memory load and store operations are not separated from arithmetic instructions. Specific instruction set architectures that have been retroactively labeled CISC are System/360 through z/Architecture, the PDP-11 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
