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From: ccc_ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: 64 bits--why stop there?
Message-ID: <1263.26cdaecc@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 18 Aug 90 09:10:36 GMT
References: <5539@darkstar.ucsc.edu> <13285@yunexus.YorkU.CA> <30728@super.ORG> <9660@ganymede.inmos.co.uk> <224@csinc.UUCP>
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Lines: 19

I remember reading a very old book by M V Wilkes, called "Basic Machine
Principles". I was only a school student at the time, and I didn't
understand many of his arguments. But one thing that stuck in my mind
was his concept of structuring the virtual (i e programmer-visible)
address space on a tree basis, so that regions--at any level--could
grow and shrink independently. The advantage was that you could
have resizable objects that didn't need to have their addresses changed.

What do people think of other ways of addressing memory, besides
using a fixed-length integer? Would it make certain kinds of programs
easier to write? Or would it just move the overhead from the software
into the hardware?

Lawrence D'Oliveiro                       fone: +64-71-562-889
Computer Services Dept                     fax: +64-71-384-066
University of Waikato            electric mail: ldo@waikato.ac.nz
Hamilton, New Zealand    37^ 47' 26" S, 175^ 19' 7" E, GMT+12:00
Man who failed to pay bill for vasectomy is sent a final demand--
and threatened with reconnection.