De duitse c't heeft een artikel gepubliceert over de werking van de Transmeta Crusoë, een processor die ontwikkelt wordt voor gebruik in portable 'information appliances' zoals handhelds en notebooks. Een bezoeker van Ace's Hardware was zo vriendelijk om de belangrijkste punten uit dit artikel naar het engels te vertalen:
The author speculates, that a variable, possibly configurable, optimisation-strategy can optimise the code the better, the more often it is executed. At the first run, it will only be translated. At later runs, it will then be optimised further and further.Transmeta claims to prove this with the example of a small C-loop, consisting of ten complex x86-instructions. After many optimisation-steps, it can be reduced to four basic VLIW-instructions (two times parallel + "commit"). This method of runtime-optimisation reminds the author a little of "intelligent" Basic-interpreters, but would be unique in hardware. Transmeta in no way intends to limit this method to x86-emulation, but rather explicitly mentions other possible applications, like Java.
The author then predicts the Crusoe to be an exceptinal power-saver, which should have great chances in the area of "Information Applicances", like mobile phones, PDAs and notebooks.
De rest lees je op Ace's Hardware.
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