Re: A Dark Day...

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#269265

From: John Ahlstrom
Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 16:01

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Peter Flass wrote:

> Nick Maclaren wrote:
> >
> > One is customisable instruction sets, where an application can load
> > a restricted set of instruction patterns, which map into a lower
> > level hardware ISA.  Very like the Pentium 4, but customisable.
> > Push that up a level and it becomes very much an interpretation
> > method.
> >
> > You lose some advantages of compilation, but gain others (e.g.
> > compactness).
>
> Microprogramming by any other name ...  Actually, I'd like to see
> user-programmable microcode make a comeback.

What makes you think it was ever here?
Anyone know how many USER uProgrammable
machines were sold, how many uprogrammed by
users?


--
Q: How many efficient market economists does it take to
    change a light bulb?

A: None.  If the light bulb needed to be changed,
    the market would have already done it.
                 John Allen Paulos

(More economist/light bulb lines solicited.

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From: John Ahlstrom <jahl...@cisco.com>
Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp10,alt.folklore.computers,comp.arch,comp.sys.unisys
Subject: Re: A Dark Day...
Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 09:01:44 -0700
Organization: Cisco Systems Inc.
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