
Modern Microprocessors – A 90 Minute Guide - Tomte
http://www.lighterra.com/papers/modernmicroprocessors/
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ersii
Previous discussions of this article:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7174513](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7174513)
(743 days ago, 226 points, 37 comments)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2428403](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2428403)
(1774 days ago, 283 points, 30 comments)

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sophacles
People should note however, this appears to have been updated since the last
posting - there are references to things that have happened since 743 days ago
(e.g. "Today (early 2015)") and discussions of Haswell.

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trsohmers
Frequent thing I see here on HN and many other sites is the immediate
dismissal of VLIW... This sort of archtiecture has had a bad rap since it was
first talked about (over 30 years ago now), to the present day. This is really
encouraging me to write a post on why VLIWs have been unjustly shit on, and
why what most people think of VLIWs (E.g. Itanium) is not a true VLIW.

At least the linked article gives a mostly fair (but very brief) description
of VLIW, but then inappropriately compares it to Intel/HP's EPIC, which while
inspired by VLIW, went so far off the rails, which in my opinion, led it to be
a failed architecture.

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nickpsecurity
Ok. Just link to examples where it works vs modern processors while avoiding
failures of Itanium etc. Outside of embedded space or constraints: HPC or at
least desktop-grade stuff. That should either strongly support your claim or
settle the debate depending on quality of evidence.

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trsohmers
I'm actually going to commit to writing this over the weekend... I'll post it
on HN, aiming for Monday.

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krylon
Given the self-imposed limitation of being a "90 Minute Guide", this is great
stuff. Very readable, even entertaining (at least to me), without giving me
the impression of being talked down to.

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amelius
> by Jason Robert Carey Patterson

Is the author related to David Patterson?

(Known from [1])

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Architecture-Fifth-
Quantitati...](http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Architecture-Fifth-Quantitative-
Approach/dp/012383872X)

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jeffreyrogers
I don't think so, Jason Robert Carey Patterson is from Australia.

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J-dawg
Can anyone recommend a really basic intro to microprocessors? For someone who
hasn't done a CS degree or studied hardware at all. This article seems very
readable, but I feel like I'm missing the basics.

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superempie
This is the basic intro to current used cpu's and I must say this is the best
short description of how a cpu works. Determine what you want to do and try to
tweak it to your performance level and learn on the way. Don't forget checking
your motherboard manual and tuning your extra devices to it.

