From 757dbbf9172eb4d397b505e24b68153aed4cd1d2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2018 21:03:51 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] clarify introduction --- simple_v_extension/specification.mdwn | 25 ++++++++++++++----------- 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-) diff --git a/simple_v_extension/specification.mdwn b/simple_v_extension/specification.mdwn index 5e23b6967..58d96ea90 100644 --- a/simple_v_extension/specification.mdwn +++ b/simple_v_extension/specification.mdwn @@ -29,18 +29,21 @@ it indicates that the PC shall **not** be incremented; instead a loop is activated where *multiple* instructions are issued to the pipeline (as determined by a length CSR), with contiguously incrementing register numbers starting from the tagged register. When the last "element" -has been reached, only then is the PC permitted to move onn. Thus +has been reached, only then is the PC permitted to move on. Thus Simple-V effectively sits (slots) *in between* the instruction decode phase and the ALU(s). -The barrier to entry with SV is therefore very low. The minimum is -software-emulation (traps), requiring only the CSRs and CSR tables, and that -an exception be thrown if an instruction is detected to have been -parallelised. The looping that would otherwise be done in hardware is -thus carried out in software, instead. Whilst much slower, it is "compliant" -with the SV specification, and may be suited for implementation in RV32E -and also in situations where the implementor wishes to focus on certain -aspects of SV, whilst also conforming strictly with the API. +The barrier to entry with SV is therefore very low. The minimum +compliantt implementation is software-emulation (traps), requiring +only the CSRs and CSR tables, and that an exception be thrown if an +instruction's registers are detected to have been tagged. The looping +that would otherwise be done in hardware is thus carried out in software, +instead. Whilst much slower, it is "compliant" with the SV specification, +and may be suited for implementation in RV32E and also in situations +where the implementor wishes to focus on certain aspects of SV, without +unnecessary time and resources into the silicon, whilst also conforming +strictly with the API. A good area to punt to software would be the +polymorphic element width capability for example. Hardware Parallelism, if any, is therefore added at the implementor's discretion to turn what would otherwise be a sequential loop into a @@ -58,8 +61,8 @@ To emphasise that clearly: Simple-V (SV) is *not*: SV does **not** tell implementors how or even if they should implement parallelism: it is a hardware "API" (Application Programming Interface) that, if implemented, presents a uniform and consistent way to *express* -parallelism, at the same time leaving the choice of if, how, how much and -when to parallelise operations **entirely to the implementor**. +parallelism, at the same time leaving the choice of if, how, how much, +when and whether to parallelise operations **entirely to the implementor**. # CSRs -- 2.30.2