Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Why VAX Was the Ultimate CISC and Not RISC
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 15:28:16 -0500
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 15
Message-ID: <jwv34fr442b.fsf-monnier+comp.arch@gnu.org>
References: <vpufbv$4qc5$1@dont-email.me>
	<2025Mar1.125817@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Injection-Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2025 21:28:25 +0100 (CET)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="4aea45d224e161715aca7cc8bacf5d03";
	logging-data="2708814"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18YKewekpTwxGwIkQXamH3JDC3Bzr76hB4="
User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13)
Cancel-Lock: sha1:fm6M1b6/mail/xeq/cnVatwOxKE=
	sha1:vDxXZK6ojnXQMvWile0eUbvWAys=
Bytes: 1664

Anton Ertl [2025-03-01 11:58:17] wrote:
> Bottom line: If you sent, e.g., me and the needed documents back in
> time to the start of the VAX project, and gave me a magic wand that
> would convince the DEC management and workforce that I know how to
> design their next architecture, and how to compiler for it, I would
> give the implementation team RV32GC as architecture to implement, and
> that they should use pipelining for that, and of course also give that
> to the software people.

I wonder if an RV32GC would be competitive if implemented in the
technology available back in 1977 (when the VAX-11/780 came out,
according to Wikipedia).


        Stefan