In computer science academia, C along with UNIX, and PDP11s, is as unfashionable as can be: the equivalent of other 1970’s relics, like polyester leisure
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Flat address spaces: another crank idea for computer architecture
The poor C programming language is ridiculously out of fashion. Critics like to explain how, Dennis Ritchie didn’t know any math, or that the type
Read moreXor patterns
The xor i mod 128 “multiplication table” as presented by Mathematica. Here is the mod 64 matrix.
Read moreCurrent reading: meltdown and spectre edition
Google project zero and then The two attacks. and remediation for Spectre in LLVM. Test code. (via Lobste.rs) Limits of ASLR. Spanner,True Time and CAP
Read moreSynchronous processors
Imagine a processor with no interrupts. We can do a lot better and get rid of most exceptions (e.g. system calls, page faults etc.), most
Read moreProcessor architecture
I wish that processor architecture was not so committed to a obsolete model of software. For example, it has become clear over the last few
Read moreoperating systems are harder than quantum physics
Went to hear Tilak Agerwala talk on the “Future of Data Centers” and was struck again by the way in which system developers and chip
Read moreThe lost wakeup problem
One basic problem in operating system design is how to make efficient blocking requests. Thread A wants something from Thread B (or ISR B) and
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