On Sun, 9 Jun 2024, Murray McCullough via cctalk wrote:
I agree that parallelism, or more accurately multiprocessing, has contributed a great deal to the advancement of 8086 technology. So to has speed: The first 8086 was clocked at 5Mhz.; now the speed is 6Ghz. The shrinkage of computer components in ULSIC technology has made this possible. But today I believe we're nearing an end to 8086 CISC technology because its science and technology will only take it so far.
There are theoretical limits. But, like the limits imposed by frequency modulation on modem speeds, each time there's a limit, clever ideas attempt to circumvent that limit.
Parallelism/multiprocessing can go a ways past the "theoretical limit" of processor speed, simply because total throughput is the actual goal, not processor speed.
Under Moore's Law, it kept doubling. But, it was obvious that it could not keep doing so infinitely. Moore is gone, so there is no enforcement, and the doubling is approaching its end. :-)
-- Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
