Architectural soup: a proposed very general purpose computer

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with architecture for long term general purpose computers. The work is based on current trends in machine architecture and technology. Projections from these generated "Architectural Soups". An Architectural Soup has the potential to emulate many different machine architectures. The characteristics of this class of machine are, three dimensional, simple cells and a simple communications topology, which can be reconfigured at a very low level. This thesis aims to show potential usefulness and viability of machines with such capability. Methods of programming are considered, and important design issues are investigated. A specific implementation architecture is described and illustrated through simulation. An assessment is made of the architecture and of the simulator used. In addition, the implementation architecture is used as the basis for a VLSI design, which shows the simplicity of a Soup cell, and provides estimates of the possible number of cells in future machines.