Word: risc
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...RISC approach emerged from statistical analyses of existing programs. The analyses showed that most compilers (programs that translate higher level languages like C and BASIC into machine code) rarely used complex instructions. Rather, the computer spent most of its time only executing a small core of instructions...
...other words, a RISC processor reduces the number of cycles per instruction and reduces the time per cycle, but increases the number of instructions per task. A CISC processor, on the other hand, requires fewer instructions per task but typically processes fewer instructions per second. However, since compilers rarely generate complex instructions, RISC chips should be able to be pushed faster and faster, while CISC performance must plateau...
Each architecture represents a series of tough trade-offs. CISC's major problem is that a processor which allows many instructions is difficult to design and difficult to speed up; RISC chips are easier to develop and easier to speed up. The RISC architecture, however, requires greater memory and hard disk space than the CISC architecture, as most PowerMac owners will readily attest...
...theory, therefore, RISC chips are the wave of the future and CISC chips are a technological dead-end. Most microprocessor companies have voted with their feet by shifting design resources to RISC-based architectures. MIPS, Hewlett-Packard, Digital Sun Microsystems, IBM, Apple and Motorola are all converts...
...practice, CISC chips in the form of Intel's x86 family are ingrained in the marketplace and cannot be ignored. But Intel has claimed the P7, scheduled to hit the market in the year 2000, will be a combination CISC-RISC (CRISC?) chip...