Program Challenge (was Re: z80 timing... 6502 timing)

From: Bill Yakowenko <yakowenk_at_cs.unc.edu>
Date: Sun Apr 18 18:13:00 1999

You'd normally expect that the winner of any such contest would be
the most recent processor, wouldn't you? So, if the cut-off date
was 1982, any processor that was released in late '82 should probably
beat any that was already available in 1979. Of course, if the 1979
processor had a much faster version available in 1983 (like a higher
clock rate), that faster version wouldn't be legal with the 1982 cut-
off, because that wasn't around in 1982.

So, I suggest that one way of judging cleverness of software hacks
is that they let an older processor beat a newer one.

Judging that way, we don't even need a cut-off date. But anybody
coding for a 1999 processor won't have any way to win.

Of course, then we need clear evidence when each processor became
available at each clock speed, and we can argue about when the chip
was *really* available (as opposed to being orderable, or just having
the spec available).

        Bill.
Received on Sun Apr 18 1999 - 18:13:00 BST