• DocumentCode
    992619
  • Title

    Compiler challenges with RISCs

  • Author

    Pennello, Thomas J.

  • Author_Institution
    MetaWare Inc., Santa Cruz, CA, USA
  • Volume
    10
  • Issue
    1
  • fYear
    1990
  • Firstpage
    37
  • Lastpage
    43
  • Abstract
    It is argued that despite the simplified instruction sets of reduced instruction-set computers (RISCs), designing their compilers is not so simple. This viewpoint is substantiated by considering a subproblem that arises in designing a calling sequence, namely, how to pass arguments to a procedure. A constraint of the solution is that the ubiquitous print function printf (from the C programming language) has to work. The problem (called the variable-arguments, or varargs, problem) is defined, and solutions are shown for complex-instruction-set computers (CISCs) and two RISCs, the IBM RT PC and the Intel i860.<>
  • Keywords
    program compilers; reduced instruction set computing; IBM RT PC; Intel i860; RISCs; calling sequence; compilers; complex-instruction-set computers; varargs; variable-arguments; Central Processing Unit; Computer aided instruction; Hardware; Job shop scheduling; Manufacturing; Performance analysis; Reduced instruction set computing; Registers; Switches; Writing;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Micro, IEEE
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    0272-1732
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/40.46767
  • Filename
    46767