High-level language computer architecture: Difference between revisions

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A '''high-level language computer architecture''' ('''HLLCA''') is a [[computer architecture]] designed to be targeted by a specific [[high-level programming language]] (HLL), rather than the architecture being dictated by hardware considerations. It is accordingly also termed '''language-directed computer design,''', coined in {{harvtxt|McKeeman|1967}} and primarily used in the 1960s and 1970s. HLLCAs were popular in the 1960s and 1970s, but largely disappeared in the 1980s. This followed the dramatic failure of the [[Intel 432]] (1981) and the emergence of [[optimizing compiler]]s and [[reduced instruction set computer]] (RISC) architectures and RISC-like [[complex instruction set computer]] (CISC) architectures, and the later development of [[just-in-time compilation]] (JIT) for HLLs. A detailed survey and critique can be found in {{harvtxt|Ditzel|Patterson|1980}}.

HLLCAs date almost to the beginning of HLLs, in the [[Burroughs large systems]] (1961), which were designed for [[ALGOL 60]] (1960), one of the first HLLs. The best known HLLCAs may be the [[Lisp machine]]s of the 1970s and 1980s, for the language [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] (1959). At present the most popular HLLCAs are [[Java processor]]s, for the language [[Java (programming language)|Java]] (1995), and these are a qualified success, being used for certain applications. A recent architecture in this vein is the [[Heterogeneous System Architecture]] (2012), which [[HSA Intermediate Layer]] (HSAIL) provides instruction set support for HLL features such as exceptions and virtual functions; this uses JIT to ensure performance.