CPE 315
Professor Stearns
Confused Terms
Computer Architecture has a major problem with its terminology.
Many terms are poorly defined or have multiple meaning. Some
of these terms are listed here:
- 32-bit (or any n-bit)
The correct definition is the size of the address space.
- Emulator
The correct definition is a microcoded simulation of an ISA.
Many people [incorrectly] use the word to mean an ordinary simulator.
- MIPS
It's a company and there are 3 performance measures (native MIPS,
peak MIPS and relative MIPS)
- Overflow
Many people confuse overflow and carry.
- Trap
In some companies, a Trap is a system call instruction (Motorola);
in other companies, it's the name for internal exceptions (IBM)
- Virtual memory