EDN

Instruction Set Architecture

Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is a set of instructions defined for the processor’s architecture. These are the instructions that the processor understands. It defines the hardware and software ...
CNET

AMD's SSE5 ends the old RISC vs. CISC debate

Prompted by the chipmaker's announcement of the SSE5 instruction-set extensions, Glaskowsky analyzes the ultimate outcome to this old controversy. Peter N. Glaskowsky is a computer architect in ...
ExtremeTech

What Kind of Performance Should We Expect From ARM-Based Macs?

Some of the articles online are framing this as a CISC-versus-RISC battle, but that's an outdated comparison. The "classic" formulation of the x86 versus ARM debate goes back to two different methods ...
EDN

Renesas boosts throughput of 32-bit CISC MCUs

San Jose, Calif.—Renesas Technology America Inc. announced the H8SX/1700 microcontroller series, featuring an enhanced H8SX 32-bit CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) CPU core with a higher ...
Ars Technica

Retrospect and prospect: ten years of RISC vs. CISC

Ten years ago, I waded into the then-raging “Mac vs. PC” wars with a lengthy treatise on “RISC vs. CISC: the Post-RISC Era.” In the conclusion to that article, I declared the “RISC vs. CISC” debate ...
Semiconductor Engineering

Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)

An instruction set architecture (ISA) defines the set of basic operations a computer must support. This includes the functional definition of operations and precise descriptions of how to invoke and ...