Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!mcgill-vision!snorkelwacker!apple!raj
From: raj@Apple.COM (Raj Sharma)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Computer Architecture methodology
Message-ID: <42594@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 3 Jul 90 07:19:32 GMT
References: <8533@canterbury.ac.nz>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 37

In article <8533@canterbury.ac.nz> PHYS169@canterbury.ac.nz (Mark Aitchison, U of Canty; Physics) writes:
>A little question: do the hardware architecture designers primarily strive to
>make conventional programs and operating systems run well (fast and lean, etc)
>or to make hardware race as fast as possible - independant of ideas of what
>software will run on it (i.e. say "It's up to the software guys to make the
>best of my hardware")?
>
>I know lots of people will have ideas on what they *ought* to do, and looking
>back with the aid of folklore, we can see what happened on occassions in the
>past, but I am hoping some present-day architure people (not just building
>block assemblers) will be able to reply with their design philosophy.
>
>Ta muchly,
>Mark Aitchison.

Mark, you have hit upon the most important factor at the root of all sins 
commited in design of computers. Most pundits of computer architecture begin
their education in the subject by learning first how to measure and evaluate 
performances. Therefore their instinct whispers to them to design architectures
to execute specific applications faster and with higher code densities. 
However, these folks leave their abode of learning to venture into the 
commercial world to make their millions and then they meet folks from 
marketting and designing computer systems is no more simple anymore. 
First, to accomodate a larger variety of applications the architecture is 
compromised. Second, most of the applications are silly programs of no 
practical values. Finally, the architecture's performance is poor in 
real applications not to mention the pain level of the system designer. 
The designer looks like a fool when (say) Unix runs slow but the 
tower of hanoi algorithm runs fast. This is when the designer
falls back to EE101 and decides to speed up the clock speed knowing well that
this brute force will always work from the silliest to the smartest programs.


Raj Sharma
"My employer and my mind never meet, so let's leave him alone"
"Remember, we are all merely a phenomena from the juxtaposition of 
energy and time"