Computers

A lot of my articles are about how various parts of a computer in particular microprocessors work. A lot of this is aimed towards beginners. I also write about what is special about emerging new technologies from companies such as Apple of new standards such as RISC-V.

Apple

• Why Is Apple’s M1 Chip So Fast?. My most popular story ever. It is a userfriendly but in depth guide to why the Apple M1 chip is so fast.

• Apple and Its ARM Competitors. Can the other ARM companies beat Apple at chip making? Why or why not?

• Are Servers Next for Apple?. Would it make sense for Apple to enter the server market with its powerful ARM chips? We look at the ARM competition and why this may not be a great idea.

• Apple M1 foreshadows Rise of RISC-V. How the trends examplified with the M1 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) points to a trend with increasing usage of coprocessors and RISC-V.

RISC-V

• What Is Innovative About RISC-V?. What is the big deal about RISC-V? Is it more than just being “free”?

• The Genius of RISC-V Microprocessors. What is so ingenious about the design of RISC-V. How they combine instruction compression and macro-op fusion to great effect.

• RISC-V Assembly for Beginners. Getting started learning RISC-V assembly code programming.

• RISC-V Assembly Code Examples. RISC-V Assembly code examples.

• ARM, x86 and RISC-V Microprocessors Compared. Comparing the assembly code of different microprocessors.

• RISC-V Vector Instructions vs ARM and x86 SIMD. The V in RISC-V stands for Vector. It was not just designed as a RISC processor but also as a vector processor. We explore more of the benefit of variable length vector instructions over SIMD instructions.

Learning

• How Does a Modern Microprocessor Work?. A beginners guide to microprocessors and assembly programming. It is aimed at understanding modern RISC processors.

• Very Long Instruction Word Microprocessors. A look at what once looked like a revolution in computing, but which never panned out. Why?

• The Little Man Computer. Learning how to program a very simple made up computer in assembly language.

• What the Heck is a Micro-Operation?. Learn about an important concept in modern high performance microprocessors. How instructions are turned into micro-operations.

History

• A World Without the IBM PC. What would computer history have looked like without the IBM PC?
• Historical Coprocessors of the Human Mind. Looking at historical computing devices such as Planimeter and Differential Analyzers.
• Microprocessors Running on Air?. The Fluidics based computers that could have been but never happened.