game trailblazer

Chapter 30 Reception

When Zhang Lexing was competing with the dim sum on the table, a middle-aged man with a beard came straight to him.

"Could it be that we know each other?" Zhang Lexing murmured in his heart, but he couldn't remember where he saw this uncle.

Just when Zhang Lexing was thinking hard about whether the middle-aged uncle was an acquaintance, the middle-aged uncle had already walked to the dining table. Only then did Zhang Lexing realize that the target of the middle-aged uncle was not himself.The middle-aged uncle stood by the dining table, stretched out one hand and picked up a shiny silver box on the table, opened the silver box skillfully, then took out a cigarette from inside, and lit the cigarette with the candle next to it. Lighted up, and began to swallow clouds and mist.

Zhang Lexing sized it up, and felt that he had seen this middle-aged man before, so he asked weakly, "Sir, I think you look familiar, can I tell you your name?"

"John, just call me John." The middle-aged uncle changed the cigarette in his mouth.

"Zhang Lexing, it's an honor to meet you." Although he still couldn't remember where he saw John, Zhang Lexing didn't want to be rude, so he hurriedly reported his name.

"Would you like one?" John pointed to the silver box on the table.

"Thank you, no need, I don't smoke." Zhang Lexing waved his hand.

John didn't speak any more, just smoked a cigarette and kept puffing, with an unhappy look on his face.Eating dim sum all the time is actually quite boring, so Zhang Lexing decided to change the topic and continue the conversation.

"John, you seem to have something on your mind, is it convenient to talk?" Zhang Lexing asked casually.

"Actually, it's nothing. I have an idea, but not many people are optimistic about it. I came to the party this time to sell it again, but no one cares about it." John sighed, and it seemed that the successive setbacks had hit him hard. .

"What is the idea?" Zhang Lexing's curiosity surged up uncontrollably.

"Have you ever heard of a RISC?" John asked.

"Reduced instruction processor? Do you mean RISC?" Zhang Lexing asked back.

"It's a reduced instruction processor, but it's not RISC, it's MIPS!" John corrected seriously.

The processor Zhang Lexing is most familiar with is Intel's X86 series, and of course it also includes AMD's X86-compatible series.Intel's processor initially took the path of complex instructions (CISC, complex instruction processor), and the corresponding one is the reduced instruction processor (RISC), one is complex and versatile, and the other is simple and efficient.Zhang Lexing only has a superficial understanding of the RISC processor, but the MIPS series is the deepest impression in his mind, which is why the processor of the PS game console is an improved version of the MIPS series.Unexpectedly, today he heard the word "MIPS" from a stranger, and Zhang Lexing's mind suddenly felt a little frightened.

"MIPS?" Zhang Lexing was a little unsure, worried that he had misunderstood, so he repeated the words he heard.

"That's right, it's MIPS, Microprocessor without interlocked piped stages (microprocessor without internal interlocked piped stages), not the old man Patterson's RISC." John saw that Zhang Lexing still looked confused, so he started his processor development history lectures.

After listening to John's introduction, Zhang Lexing realized the twists and turns.The uncle in front of him was originally named John Hennessy, and now he is a professor at the Stanford Microelectronics Laboratory. He is leading a group of students doing research on modern microprocessor architecture.

The concept of a reduced instruction processor was born relatively early. In 1964, Dr. Simon Clay of CDC (Control Data Corporation) presided over the development of the CDC6600 supercomputer, which was recognized as the origin of the reduced instruction architecture.The first truly reduced instruction processor came from IBM. In 76, under the leadership of Kirk of the Watson Research Center, an 801 processor was developed, although the original goal of the Watson Research Center was not the processor but the phone. Call converter. The performance of the 801 processor is very powerful, but it is a pity that it is not as good as IBM's bureaucratic system. Except for the initial prototype, a decent product has not been produced for eight years, leaving the 801 processor with nothing to play.

In recent years, the academic community has been very concerned about streamlining instruction architecture. One of the more famous ones is the RISC project led by David Patterson of Berkeley, and the other is the MIPS team led by John Zhang in front of him.Patterson's team was established relatively early, and is very fanatical about the simplified instruction architecture. It spares no effort to promote the RISC architecture everywhere. Even the name of its research plan is called RISC, and the finished processor it develops is also called RISC-I, RISC- II, and even Patterson himself was nicknamed Mr. Risc for this.

The main feature of Patterson's RISC architecture is the use of register window technology, which relies on the use of a large number of registers to minimize access to main memory to increase the operation speed. The more successful place is the introduction of pipeline mechanism and branch delay to solve data waiting. The problem.Pipeline technology greatly improves the computing speed of the processor, but it also leaves considerable troubles, because as long as there is a pipeline, there will be interlocking problems, especially hardware pipelines, this problem is particularly serious, and timely use of branch delay technology is only a problem. It can alleviate this problem, but it cannot fundamentally solve it.

John's Stanford MIPS program started later, and his research direction was different from Patterson's.John noticed the interlock problem at the very beginning, and they put the solution on the compiler, using an extremely simple hardware architecture, combined with the compiler and other software technologies to achieve a complete RISC concept.After research some time ago, John's MIPS project has achieved results - MIPS chip samples, the core is as its name suggests - no interlock pipeline processor, no complex hardware mechanism is used to process the pipeline part, but the compiler optimizes the combination Instruction data flow avoids the troublesome problem of pipeline interlock.

To be honest, Zhang Lexing doesn't know much about processor hardware, and he doesn't know much about the RISC. Under John's eloquent explanation, he didn't fully understand it. It would be great if Dr. Yu was by his side, saying Maybe the two can still have a good talk.Although he only got some superficial understanding of John's MIPS project, this did not prevent Zhang Lexing from fantasizing about this chip. MIPS chips have a wide range of applications. Even the domestic Loongson that Zhang Lexing has heard of in his previous life has something to do with it. Of course, what Zhang Lexing is most interested in is that the two generations of Sony game consoles use MIPS-related processors. The dream of the game console is a little bit around the corner.

Of course, John couldn't think of this tricky thing in Zhang Lexing's mind. He continued to talk freely, praising Patterson's RSIC processor on the one hand, and on the other hand, he did not forget to analyze the highlights of his research plan.

"John, your plan is very attractive. When do you plan to start it?" Zhang Lexing felt that he was a little bit overwhelmed, and if he asked John to continue talking, he would soon become an idiot, so he quickly changed the topic to other aspects.

"Alas!" John's face darkened again, and he said a little uncomfortably: "No one has been willing to fund this project. Everyone has focused on David's achievements, but they are unwilling to face up to the flaws in it. , who made my start too late."

"It's such a pity." Zhang Lexing was overjoyed. No one paid attention to such a good technology. It seemed that his opportunity had come, so he took out a business card and handed it over, "John, I'm doing it with my friends. We have established a venture capital fund, and we are very interested in this potential technology, are you interested in cooperating?"

John took the business card and looked at it carefully, then raised his head and said, "Red River Fund, I heard from my friends that Adobe seems to have done well. Are you really willing to fund my research project?"

"It should be no problem, but I hope you can provide more detailed application materials, send them to the address on the business card, and then make a simple evaluation, and we will discuss the specific details. I hope we can cooperate happily!" Zhang Lexing stretched out his hand past.

John held Zhang Lexing's hand and said happily: "Thank you! I believe your investment will get a good return!"

Seeing that there is hope for investment, John seemed very excited and talked more.However, he should also have seen that the technical details of MIPS were too esoteric when he talked about the technical details of MIPS. The prospective investor in front of him obviously had some difficulty listening, so he wisely changed the topic and did not continue to entangle in RISC design, but chose some easier ones. topics, such as anecdotes in the circle and campus anecdotes.

"Bosac, Lena, are you here too?" While chatting, John saw an acquaintance and waved his hand to say hello.

"John, who are these two?" Zhang Lexing felt strange when he saw the two people whom John greeted.

"They are teachers at Stanford. Bosack is the director of the computer center of the Department of Computer Science and the director of the computer center of the Lerner School of Business. They are husband and wife." John introduced.

Bosac and Lena came over with wine glasses and greeted John. John took the opportunity to introduce Zhang Lexing to his two colleagues.Hearing that Zhang Lexing was willing to invest in John's MIPS project, Bosack and Lerner showed eager expressions.

"Mr. Zhang, we actually have a project that we want to invest in. Would you like to listen to us?" Bosac looked at Zhang Lexing with expectations in his eyes.

Anyway, it’s okay to listen, Zhang Lexing made a gesture of please to Bosak.

"Nowadays there are many LAN specifications, and it is difficult to communicate with each other normally. We have imagined a new network device that can connect different LANs to ensure normal communication with each other. We call this device a multi-protocol router... "Bosack began to introduce their project.

"Multi-protocol router?" Zhang Lexing felt a little familiar, as if he had heard of it a long time ago, but he couldn't remember the specific details, so he had to continue to be an audience.After listening to Bosac's introduction, Zhang Lexing realized that these two, like John, had research results, but they lacked the funds to convert the research results into actual products. They came to this party this time to try their luck.Bosack and Lerner's attitudes are very sincere, and Zhang Lexing decided to include their projects in the scope of investigation, which may have bright prospects for future development.

At the end of the conversation, Zhang Lexing asked casually: "Bosac, what is the name of your company going to be called?"

"Cisco, what do you think of that name?" Bosak said.

Zhang Lexing suddenly had a feeling of being struck by lightning, Cisco actually appeared in front of him like this.

(End of this chapter)