Compiling Smalltalk-80 to a RISC.

Abstract

The Smalltalk On A RISC project at U.C. Berkeley proved that good performance executing a high-level language on a modified RISC architecture was attainable. The system removed a layer of interpretation, translating bytecodes to a register-based instruction set. This paper describes the bytecode translator and how it was affected by SOAR architectural features. The translator generates code of reasonable density and speed. Because of bytecode semantics, relatively few optimizations are possible, but hardware and software mechanisms at runtime offset these limitations. Register allocation with register windows is the major task of the compiler. Several hardware features could be easily performed by the compiler.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 06, 1987
Accession Number
ADA179330

Entities

People

  • A. D. Samples
  • David Ungar
  • Paul N. Hilfinger
  • William R. Bush

Organizations

  • University of California, Berkeley

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • California
  • Classification
  • Compilers
  • Complex Numbers
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Engineering
  • Instruction Set Architecture
  • Instructions
  • Language
  • Numbers
  • Object Code
  • Optimization
  • Security
  • Smalltalk Programming Language
  • Virtual Machines

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

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  • Computer Programming and Software Development.
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