Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!MATHOM.GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU!lindsay
From: lindsay@MATHOM.GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU (Donald Lindsay)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Is handling off-alignment important?
Message-ID: <10018@pt.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: 26 Jul 90 17:20:51 GMT
References: <104037@convex.convex.com> <8840016@hpfcso.HP.COM> <2370@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> <1990Jul25.223437.15301@mozart.amd.com>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 13


No one has mentioned the solution used by the MIPS R3000.  It takes
very little hardware, runs as fast as a middling amount of hardware,
and can be easily emitted by the compiler whenever it doesn't know
a datum's alignment.

Quite simply, they have two "partial load" instructions: between them
they constitute an unaligned load.

If unaligned data is untypical, this sounds like an ideal compromise.
Besides, maybe Herman Rubin can use it in his assembler programs ...
-- 
Don		D.C.Lindsay