Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!unido!mucmot!ron
From: ron@mucmot.UUCP (Ron Voss)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: RISC  a short answer??
Message-ID: <311@mucmot.UUCP>
Date: 10 May 88 11:50:05 GMT
References: <1036@nusdhub.UUCP> <21149@pyramid.pyramid.com> <307@mucmot.UUCP> <52338@sun.uucp>
Organization: Motorola GmbH Microsystems Munich
Lines: 58
Summary: a bit petty?


In article <52338@sun.uucp>, livesey@sun.uucp (Jon Livesey) writes:
> In article <310@mucmot.UUCP>, ron@mucmot.UUCP (Ron Voss) writes:
> > From article <381@m3.mfci.UUCP>, by root@mfci.UUCP (SuperUser):
> > > In article <307@mucmot.UUCP> ron@mucmot.UUCP (Ron Voss) writes:
> > > =From article <21149@pyramid.pyramid.com=, by csg@pyramid.pyramid.com
> > > =(Carl S. Gutekunst):
> > > == In article <1036@nusdhub.UUCP= rwhite@nusdhub.UUCP
> > > ==(Robert C. White Jr.) writes:
> > > ===Can someone give me [short answer style] a description of what "RISC"
> > > ===means.
> > 
> 	Gee, a Motorola person offers us a definition of RISC processors
> in general, by quoting from a Motorola press release.   O tempora,
> o mores.  :-)
> 
> 	Maybe you would tell me what's wrong with Tabak's [1] 1987 definition
> which I quoted a week ago?
> 
>       [items 1 to 8]
> 
>    Or how about Stallings' definition in [2]
> 
> 	[header and three items]
> 
>    Note in particular, that Stallings' definition is as short as yours, but
> manages to characterize more of the system architecture.
> 
>    Maybe the question I am asking is this:  if all this work has been done
> before, by independent people, do we really need each manufacturer to torque
> the definition around to suit their own product?   Fine for a Press Release, > but not for general purposes.
> 
> jon.
> [I don't speak for Sun]
> 
> [1] Tabak D. "RISC Architecture", Research Studies Press, 1987.
> [2] Stallings W. "Reduced Instruction Set Computers." IEEE Computer
> Society 1988.

Bob Colwell answered these items, which inadvertently but correctly includes
valid criticism of my own simplistic offering.

I take issue with Jon's rather petty outrage that an employee would repeat
what his employer said.  Don't forget our context here.  A participant
asked for a short answer.  I ran across one (required reading, you see)
which was the shortest one I had seen.  "Fine for a Press Release"?
I clearly labelled it as such, and my affiliation is given.  From the variety
of responses, there seem to be a number of definitions.  Wouldn't it be
interesting for someone to gather all vendor's definitions and publish them
here?  We might then get closer to the real (in silicon) truth.  Then again,
we might just get marketing's press releases.  And I do like tenpura
and smores.
-- 
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Ron Voss                Motorola Microsystems Europe, Munich
mcvax!unido!mucmot!ron                         CIS 73647,752
my opinions are just that, and not necessarily my employer's
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