Must read for a solid understanding of modern microarchitectures. It debunks a lot of misconceptions and myths I see perpetuated by “ARM is the future!” fanboys. (Yes, and I say this as someone who is very bullish about Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X.) True, over time, x86 became more RISC-y under the hood throughout its lifetime by way of micro-ops. However, interestingly enough, ARM has also become more CISC-y under the hood over its lifetime. Why? Because x86 actually has key strengths vital to maximizing performance.
3 Likes