Newsgroups: comp.arch
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Register usage [was Re: 80486 vs. 68040 code size]
Message-ID: <1989May11.210653.2125@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <921@aber-cs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 11 May 89 21:06:53 GMT

In article <921@aber-cs.UUCP> pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:
>They found that in these conditions (CISC machine, no interexpression
>optimization, virtually only fixed point computation) speed/code size did
>not improve substantially with more than three scratch registers, and four
>were plenty.

You forgot one condition:  ancient and stupid compiler.  Do remember, also,
that most any compiler for the 11 was full of implicit assumptions to the
effect that very few registers were available.
-- 
Mars in 1980s:  USSR, 2 tries, |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
2 failures; USA, 0 tries.      | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu