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From: scott@texnext.gac.edu (Scott Hess)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: RISC vs. CISC -- SPECmarks
Message-ID: <SCOTT.91Apr27092127@texnext.gac.edu>
Date: 27 Apr 91 14:21:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: texnext.SCOTT.91Apr27092127
References: <racGk93s1@cs.psu.edu> <1991Apr18.180538.1@sif.claremont.edu><SCOTT.91Apr23101
 927@texnext.gac.edu><1991Apr26.163303.8614@kithrup.COM>
Organization: Gustavus Adolphus College
Lines: 37
Nntp-Posting-Host: texnext.gac.edu
In-reply-to: sef@kithrup.COM's message of 26 Apr 91 16:33:03 GMTLines: 37

In article <1991Apr26.163303.8614@kithrup.COM> sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes:
   In article <SCOTT.91Apr23101927@texnext.gac.edu> scott@texnext.gac.edu (Scott Hess) writes:
   >If you look, you'll see that all of the chips that have been created in the
   >past couple years seem to be RISC chips (this was brought to my attention
   >by a prof in one of my classes just this spring).  It seems to be true!
   >What it makes one wonder is whether the naming of chips like the RIOS
   >RISC is done because they are really RISC, or because RISC is what
   >people want.  Considering all I've seen on the RIOS (not much,
   >admitedly), I'd say it's more of a CISC that uses some of the things
   >that RISC people have found to be helpful to make fast chips.

   Let me get this straight:  the chip's implementation is complex (although it
   is still basicly a load/store architecture, and looks a lot like any other
   "RISC" chip), therefore it is a Complex Instruction Set Computer?

   Wow.  I'm impressed.  What the hell are they teaching you people?

Wow.  I'm impressed.  Did you read any of my article at all?

What I said was that many chips nowadays are called RISC because
RISC is "in".  Sort of a fad, in other words.  To reword it yet
again (just in case you missed it) - the number of people calling
their new designs "RISC" has weakened the meaning of the term
tremendously.

MIPS, for instance, seems fairly close to the spirit of RISC.
Sparc, likewise.  RIOS, meanwhile, is streching things a bit.  And
why else would a beast like the '040 be called 'RISC-like in many
ways'?

Later,
--
scott hess                      scott@gac.edu
Independent NeXT Developer	GAC Undergrad
<I still speak for nobody>
"Simply press Control-right-Shift while click-dragging the mouse . . ."
"I smoke the nose Lucifer . . . Banana, banana."