Abstract
There are four “cultures” of microprogramming: the Bit-Slice Culture, the Commercial Processor Culture, the Microprogrammable Processor Culture, and the Single-Chip Culture. The effect of trends in VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) on microprogramming can be assessed by looking the effect on each culture. The Bit-Slice Culture will be affected because levels of integration in bipolar have reached 32-bit slices and the performance of CMOS is improving to compete with the dominant bipolar technologies in these applications. The Commercial Processor Culture and the Microprogrammable Processor Culture will be least affected by changes in Technology and integration levels. The Single-Chip Culture will be most affected. There are about two more microprocessor generations to go before chips contain an essentially complete CPU. After that, designs will diversify. Microprogramming still has a good future.
- 1 Skip Stritter and Nick Tredennick. "Microprogrammed Implementation of a Single Chip Microprocessor," Proceedings of the 11th Annual Microprogramming Workshop. November 1978, pp 8-16. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- 2 Nick Tredennick. "The 'Cultures' of Microprogramming," Proceedings of the 15th Workshop on Microprogramming. October 1982, pp 79-83. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- 3 Walstein Bennett Smith, III. The Micro1370 Decimal Coprocessor -- A Study of Using Micro/370 as a Nniversal Microprocessor Chassis, Master's Thesis, Department of Clectrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California. Berkeley. 23 April 1984, pp 1-64.Google Scholar
- 4 Nick Tredennick. "How to Flowchart for Hardware," IEEE Computer. December 1981, pp 87-102.Google Scholar
Index Terms
The impact of VLSI on microprogramming
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