Customising Processors: Design-Time and Run-Time Opportunities

摘要

This paper reviews techniques and tools for customising processors at design time and at run time. We use several examples to illustrate customisation for particular application domains, and explore the use of declarative and imperative languages for describing and customising data processors. We then consider run-time customisation, which necessitates additional work at compile time such as production of multiple configurations for downloading at run time. The customisation of instruction processors and design tools is also discussed.