Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!mcvax!unido!tub!tmpmbx!netmbx!blume
From: blume@netmbx.UUCP (Heiko Blume)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: If the GS meant business...
Message-ID: <2155@netmbx.UUCP>
Date: 27 Jul 88 02:07:23 GMT
References: <8807131148.aa01449@SMOKE.BRL.ARPA> <3214@crash.cts.com> <834@lakesys.UUCP> <3228@crash.cts.com> <6254@uwmcsd1.UUCP> <3231@cras
Reply-To: blume@netmbx.UUCP (Heiko Blume)
Organization: netmbx Public Access Unix, Berlin
Lines: 25

just to clear things up:

CISC prozessors like th MC68000 family members are microcoded which means
that each assembly language op calls a microcode program. you can call that
an interpreter. the microcode is in a onchip ROM which is nice for correcting
bugs and creating special purpose variants of the cpu. however, it has been 
shown that some assembly language routines can be faster than the equivalent
microcoded assembly ops which lead to RISC processors like T800 etc. (these
are often also microcoded however).
early processors like 6502 etc. have all their opcodes hardwired, i.e. no
microcode. since the cpu has to determine the type of op after each fetch
one can call that an interpreter too ! however it is more a hardwired one
as opposed to a software interpreter.
the only type of computer that does not interpret its instructions is
the analog computer which has to be programmed with screwdrivers etc...
thats because it doesnt have instructions in the sense of digital 
computers.

i hope this leads to a more constructive discussion :-)

-- 
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