Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!romp!auschs!awdprime!doorstop.austin.ibm.com!tif From: tif@doorstop.austin.ibm.com (Paul Chamberlain/32767) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: What *should* architectural pointers point at? Message-ID: <3318@awdprime.UUCP> Date: 30 Aug 90 19:03:38 GMT References: <0887@sheol.UUCP> <41167@mips.mips.COM> Sender: news@awdprime.UUCP Reply-To: tif@reed.UUCP (Paul Chamberlain/32767) Organization: IBM AWD, Austin, TX Lines: 14 In article daveg@near.cs.caltech.edu (Dave Gillespie) writes: >It seems to me that a bit-addressed, aligned-accessing machine can be >thought of as just like a byte-addressed machine with three zeros on >the right that would have been on the left. Now there's an interesting thought. Why not order these 64 bits so that the 3 on the left are the bit offset. Mere mortals would use it just like a byte addressed machine but wizards could use those 3 bits anyway they like. Hmm, I guess that could complicate adressing the n-th bit in the system. You'd have to make an instruction which rearranges the bits in a pointer. Paul Chamberlain | I do NOT represent IBM tif@doorstop, sc30661@ausvm6 512/838-7008 | ...!cs.utexas.edu!ibmaus!auschs!doorstop.austin.ibm.com!tif