Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watdcsu.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watdcsu!herbie
From: herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS])
Newsgroups: net.arch
Subject: Re: RISC/CISC - IBM mainframes
Message-ID: <1467@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Jun-85 10:43:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.1467
Posted: Wed Jun 12 10:43:22 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 13-Jun-85 00:27:04 EDT
References: <1452@ecsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS])
Organization: U of Waterloo
Lines: 29
Summary: 

In article <1452@ecsvax.UUCP> hes@ecsvax.UUCP (Henry Schaffer) writes:
>I have just heard a presentation by IBM on large systems directions.
>It was predicted that an increasing amount of operating system
>functions would be embodied in microcode.
... deleted material ...
>Also it was pointed out
>that this makes MIPS even less meaningful, since some of these
>new microcoded instructions are comparable to an entire program,
>and yet just get counted as one instruction.

along with the IBM announcements of the Sierra processors came a little
something which wasn't quite so dramatic.  for certain processors, it
is possible to get an RPQ Request Price Quotation) for instructions to
do square roots, natural logarithms and exponentials, and the common
trig and inverse trig functions, implemented in microcode.  compared to
the standard fortran library (VS/FORTRAN), these instructions are
supposed to be about 4 times faster.  many SVC and DIAG calls on IBM
systems are already wholely implemented in microcode.  IBM watchers
predict that eventually, over 40% of the MVS operating system will be
completely in microcode.

Herb Chong...

I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble....

UUCP:  {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!water!watdcsu!herbie
CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet
ARPA:  herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
NETNORTH, BITNET, EARN: herbie@watdcs, herbie@watdcsu