An investigation of descriptor oriented architecture

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Abstract
A computer architecture is proposed which uses a hardware implemented descriptor system to provide facilities for explicit data typing, memory relocation, and access protection at the data element level. The problem of having to fetch descriptors for every operand access is overcome by storing descriptors in small fast memories of various types. The resulting machine runs simple languages (such as FORTRAN) as fast as conventional architectures, and offers significant speed improvement for languages using complex data types (such as data management systems). The cost of the descriptor storage hardware is shown to be modest, so this architecture would be suitable for machines as small as a large minicomputer.

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