JPH02113335A - Computer with tag - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discriminated between the type of data and a flag for garbage collection through hardware by providing a tag mask register means for setting specific mask information. CONSTITUTION:A tag mask register means 9 sets mask information for separating pieces of information on the data type of the tag part of tagged data read out of a register means 7 by the register specification part of an instruction register means 8 and the flag for garbage collection. A decision means 10 separates the part of the flag for garbage collection of the tag part of the tagged data read out of the register means 7 and the part of the data type according to the contents of the mask information in a tag mask register means 7, thereby performing execution. Consequently, the data type and flag for garbage collection are discriminated through the hardware and the data type and tag for garbage collection are decided at a high speed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a tagged computer with a tag mask register that can mask the tag part of tagged data, it is possible to distinguish data types and garbage collection flags by hardware. a register means for storing tagged data provided in a CPU; an instruction register means for setting an instruction including at least a register specifying section and a type specifying section; tag mask register means for setting mask information for separating the data type of the tag part of the tagged data read from the means and the information of the flag for garbage collection; and according to the contents of the mask information of the tag mask register means. The apparatus is configured to include a determining means for separating the garbage collection flag part and the data type part of the tag part of the tagged data read from the register means and controlling the execution.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a tagged computer that performs symbol processing using an artificial intelligence language, and more particularly to a tagged computer equipped with a tag mask register that can mask the tag part of tagged data.

LISP, PROLOG, P, which are called languages for artificial intelligence
GHC (Gaurded Ho
Programming languages such as rn C1ause) process data associated with tags at runtime. The tag section includes tags that indicate the data type and garbage collector flags. While processing with the tagged calculator,
Garbage is when data becomes unnecessary and remains in main memory, and this flag is used for garbage collector processing. In this garbage collector processing, the state of this flag will be observed. Therefore, in a tagged computer, it is necessary to frequently check what kind of information is contained in the tag during execution, and in particular, it is necessary to distinguish between the data type of the tag part and the flag for garbage collection.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a general-purpose register in a conventional tagged computer. In the figure, 1 is an ALU, 2 is a general-purpose register, 3 is an instruction register, 4 is a condition code flag register, 5 is a tag determination circuit, and 6 is a condition code determination circuit. Since a tagged computer mainly processes tagged data with a tag indicating the type during execution, the general-purpose register 2 in the CPU has a tag section and a data section, as shown in the figure. separated into parts,
Each address is assigned as tagged data.

In general-purpose or special-purpose machines that handle such artificial intelligence languages, checking the type of data is an extremely important process. For example, if a certain data type is an integer type, it branches and Otherwise, the operation proceeds to the next instruction. When tagged data is read from a general-purpose register, if it is a branch instruction for tag determination, the tag part is determined by the tag determination circuit 5, and if it is a branch instruction based on a flag from the ALU, the condition code is determined by the condition code. It is determined by the code determination circuit 6.

In such conventional tagging computers, it is necessary to distinguish between data types and garbage collection flags using software.

For example, in order to determine whether a certain data type is an integer type, an operation is performed in which a part indicating the data type in the tag part of the data is checked and compared with an integer type pattern. However, since the value of the garbage collector flag part is undefined, it is not possible to compare the entire tag part.

Therefore, the procedure is to first extract the part indicating the type from the entire tag, and then compare the extracted type part with an integer type pattern.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, in conventional tagging computers, the distinction was made by software, which resulted in a problem that the edges were too thick (this was one of the bottlenecks in improving speed).

The present invention aims to distinguish data types and garbage collection flags in hardware.

[Means to solve the problem] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention.

The register means 7 stores tagged data provided in the CPU, the instruction register means 8 sets a register specifying section and a type specifying section (including a small number of instructions), and the tag mask register means 9 stores tagged data provided in the CPU. The register specifying part of the register means 8 sets mask information for separating the data type of the tag part of the tagged data read from the register means 7 from the information of the flag for garbage collection, and the determining means 10 uses the tag mask. It is characterized by separating the garbage collection flag part and the data type part of the tag part of the tagged data read from the register means 7 according to the contents of the mass information of the register means 9, and controlling the execution thereof. shall be.

(Function) In the present invention, a tag mask register is provided that tells the hardware which part of the tag is the data type and which part is the flag for garbage collection, and the contents of this tag mask register are transferred to the software. You can freely write to it from here.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the configuration of the present invention. In a programming language generally called an artificial intelligence language or a symbolic processing language, data with a tag indicating the type is processed at runtime. Therefore, the general-purpose register 7 in the CPU is is separated into a tag part and a data part, and each address is assigned as tagged data. Then, checking the data type becomes an extremely important process. For example, if the data type is an integer type, branch, otherwise proceed to the next instruction. will be held. In the same figure, the same parts as in FIG. 1 are indicated by the same symbols, and 7 is a general-purpose register that stores tagged data, 11 is an ALU,
8 is an instruction register, and 12 is a tag determination circuit. Also 9
is a tag mask register that can be written freely by software, and is a register that tells the hardware which part of the tag is the data type and which part is the garbage collection flag. 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes a mask circuit consisting of an AND circuit for the mask information in the tag mask register 9 and each bit of the tag part read from the general-purpose register 7.

The instruction register 8 is composed of an operating code (OP code) for setting each instruction read from a main memory (not shown) and an address field.

The address section mainly includes a register specifying section (reg) that specifies the address of the general-purpose register 7, a type section that indicates the type of tag, and the like. The upper OP code represents the type of instruction, and the OP code of this instruction is decoded by an instruction decoder section (not shown), and the resulting control signal is A.
Source, function, or AL for LUII
Decide the destination etc. for the result of U, and
It will execute all internal controls of the PU. reg in the register specification part of instruction register 8 is general-purpose register 7
When the address decoder section 14 of the address decoder section 14 is manually inputted, data is written to the register specified by the register specification section reg, or data is read from the register. The tag determination circuit 12 compares data obtained by masking the tag portion of the tagged data to be read with mask information and the type specified by the register specifying portion of the instruction register 8. Then, if the comparison results are transferred to the execution control section,
Various controls are performed depending on the tag type. The mask information in the tag mask register 9 indicates which part of the tag is the data type and which part is the garbage collection flag, and this mask information can be freely used by software. It is writable. For example, 1 is set in the data type part, and O is set in the garbage collection part. The tag mask register 9 has the same size as the data tag part, for example, 8 bits in width, and the upper bits are used for garbage collection and the lower bits are used for the data type. In this case, the upper two bits are 0,
By setting l in the lower 6 bits, the garbage collection flag part in the tag is masked. At this time, the instruction for determining the data type of the conditional branch written in software is given as follows.

Tjump (register), (
type), (address) This command executes (add
This is an instruction that branches to (res).

Furthermore, if the data type part is masked and the garbage collection flag is used, the upper 2 bits are set to 1 and the lower 6 bits are set to 0. In this case, garbage collection processing is performed. That is, when the garbage collection flag is read, it is determined via the execution control unit whether the corresponding data is garbage. Therefore, in the present invention, two types of machine instructions are prepared: a data type determination instruction and a data garbage collection determination instruction. In the former instruction, the garbage collection flag part in the tag always appears masked. In the latter instruction, the data type part will always be visible as masked. By adopting such an architecture with a mask, it is possible to extract the data type and the garbage collection flag from the tag, and furthermore, the mask operation is performed at high speed using the mask circuit 13. . The conventional procedure of using software to extract the part indicating the type from the entire tag becomes unnecessary.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention speeds up the extraction of, for example, a mold part from the entire tag section using hardware, and it becomes possible to freely write mask information to the tag mask register from software. Therefore, in the present invention,
Garbage collection flags and data type settings can now be set more easily using software than before, making it possible to design various processing types freely, and determining data types and tags for garbage collection in tagged computers. can be done quickly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention, Part 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional example. 7...Register means, 8...type. 9...Tag mask, 10...Determination means, 11...ALU. 12...Tag determination circuit, 13...Mask circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Register means (7) provided in a CPU for storing tagged data; instruction register means (8) for setting an instruction including at least a register specifying section and a type specifying section; a tag mask register for setting mask information for separating the data type of the tag part of the tagged data read from the register means (7) by the register specifying part of the register means (8) and the information of the flag for garbage collection; means (9); a garbage collection flag part and a data type part of the tag part of the tagged data read from the register means (7) according to the contents of the mask information of the tag mask register means (9); A computer with a tag, characterized in that it has a determining means (10) for separating and controlling execution.