hall@ittral.UUCP (Doug Hall) (03/02/84)
[here, take it]
Nope, you can't multiply two 32 bit numbers and generate the 64 bit
result with one instruction on the 68k. But this doesn't disqualify it as
a 32 bit processor. You certainly can't multiply two 8 bit numbers and
generate the 16 bit result on a 6502, but it's still an 8 bit processor,
right? So I ask, what makes a processor a 32 bit processor? (Or any other
size, for that matter.) Seems to me that this is determined by what the
programmer "sees" when he's writing code for that particular processor.
Never mind the width of the data bus, never mind how it multiplies two
numbers, if what you see inside is a 32 bit machine then why not call it
one?
Doug Hall
decvax!mcnc!ittral!hall
P.S. I'm so excited. My first week on the net and I'm sure to be flamed.