16 Feb
2025
16 Feb
'25
5 p.m.
On 2025-02-16 4:52 p.m., Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
With all the cache's used on modern machines, accessing memory is a
Forbidden operation.
I have trouble understanding the fine points of accessing a local
variable in Algol with a display. Books tend to spend more time
on the evils of a dangling else, and gloss over the run time action of
a display.
Have a good example or reference book I can find free on line.
Also is there a ENGLISH description of the EL-X8?
Ben.
On Feb 16, 2025, at 5:30 PM, paul.kimpel--- via
cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
The question concerned good ALGOL code generation, not the feasibility of ALGOL code
generation.
I know that, but just as RISC machines can run very fast no matter what applications you
feed them, compilers created with skill can produce excellent code no matter the target
machine.
ALGOL running on a machine designed for the language is likely to be shorter, but not
necessarily faster. For example, the EL-X8 has an addressing mode for resolving
references through the "display" of static scopes in what looks like a single
operation. But just as "single" CISC instrutions under the cover require a lot
of work, so does that addressing mode. The same thing, expanded out to its atomic
elements in a RISC instruction set, certainly requires a half dozen instructions but they
will probably run just as fast.
paul