BLOB computing

Current processor and multiprocessor architectures are almost all based on the Von Neumann paradigm. Based on this paradigm, one can build a general-purpose computer using very few transistors, e.g., 2250 transistors in the first Intel 4004 microprocessor. In other terms, the notion that on-chip space is a scarce resource is at the root of this paradigm which trades on-chip space for program execution time. Today, technology considerably relaxed this space constraint. Still, few research works question this paradigm as the most adequate basis for high-performance computers, even though the paradigm was not initially designed to scale with technology and space. In this article, we propose a different computing model, defining both an architecture and a language, that is intrinsically designed to exploit space; we then investigate the implementation issues of a computer based on this model, and we provide simulation results for small programs and a simplified architecture as a first...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: CF
• Authors: Frédéric Gruau, Yves Lhuillier, Philippe Reitz, Olivier Temam
• Keywords: CF 2004, On-chip Space, Paradigm, Von Neumann Paradigm