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Subject: Re: Here ya go

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 11:17:03 06/05/01

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On June 05, 2001 at 12:31:30, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:

>On June 05, 2001 at 11:57:12, Gian-Carlo Pascutto wrote:
>
>>On June 05, 2001 at 11:49:20, Daniel Clausen wrote:
>>
>>>Second, there are processors which use more than 1 bit for branch prediction.
>>>(I think the Sparc-architecture is one of them, but I'm not sure) So
>>>recognizing simple patterns like 101010 or thelike would not be a problem for
>>>such architectures either.
>>
>>The branch predictors on x86 also can do this and much more.
>>
>>They can recognize quite large patterns. I once stumbled upon
>>a site that had a great explanation of how it works, but I
>>dont remember the link (maybe it was at Dr Dobbs)
>
>http://x86.org/articles/branch/branchprediction.htm
>
>--
>GCP


Part of that looks wrong.  The usual idea has always been "If a branch target
has not been seen previously (which means no prediction entry is avaliable) then
look at the _direction_ of the jump.  If it is backward, assume it will be
taken (a safe assumption since a backward branch is likely a loop) while if it
is forward, assume it is not taken.

I had seen someone from Intel claim this is what they do, although I am not
certain.  That is easier to do in the hardware than to assume that if it is
taken, move it to ST and go from there...



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