[Abstract]
[Overview]
[New Technologies]
[Bibliography]
Bibliography
Brian Hayes A Computer
With its Head Cut Offhttp://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/issues/comsci95/compsci95-03.html.
- An overview of the trend toward minimal architecture. The author discusses
the VLIW (very long instruction word) architecture, a design which lacks not only microcode but
also an instruction-decoding mechanism. As an introduction to this topic, the article
includes an overview of the history of microprogramming, from its origins to its phasing out
(in RISC architecture). The section on microprogramming has a brief but very clear
explanation of how a microprogram operates, which was tremendously useful for my understanding
of microcoding. A very readable article with a concise coverage
of the topic.
Gabriel Acosta-Lopez, Richard Clark, and Anne Wysocki, Introduction
to RISC Technology http://193.25.22.84/person/prof/si/risc/intro_to_risc/irt0_index.html
- A course published by Apple designed to teach the recent history of computer architecture,
the RISC- and CISC-style processors, and Apple's reasons for embracing RISC technology as a
basis for new computer designs. Includes an in-depth examination of both types of processors
along with their capabilities and limitations.
Foundations of Microprogramming: Architecture, Software, and Applications--by Ashook K Agrawala and Tomlinson G. Rauscher.
- A study of microprogramming which starts with a history and overview and delves into a rather involved exploration of the topic which examines a number of diffrent machines to illustrate topics. I found this book to be less readable than Tannenbaum, and the example computers are 20 years outdated, but it was interesting to see different approaches to microprogramming.
Structured Computer Organization, Tanenbaum: A good place to start.
Henk Corporaal MOVE Project - Overview of the MOVE project at Delft University of Technology. This project is targeted toward the development of a transport-triggered architecture (TTA). A TTA processor is utilized by specifying data-transports as opposed to operations. The result is a CPU with a very slight control unit (indeed, if any) and a very complex compiler, which would generate code that coordinates hardware events. Out of the reduced-hardware, microprogram-deficient architectures I examined, this was the most minimal (?) of them.
Henk Corporaal, Hans Mulder "MOVE: A framework for high-performance processor design"
Delft University of Technology, Depdrnent of Electrical Engineering 1991 ACM
- Printed description of the MOVE project. A more in-depth article on the design and goals of the MOVE project.
Bradford J. Rodriguez A Minimal TTL Processor
- An overview of the pathetic instruction set computer (PISC) which can be constructed from TTL chips. This source was useful in that it provided a nice description of a fairly basic processor.