Authored by: Yossarian on Wednesday, May 09 2012 @ 02:15 AM EDT |
I have to agree with this one.
My first reaction when I read: "A 'symbolic reference' tags data with a
name rather than its numeric memory location"
was "Gee, did not I do just that in Symbolic Lisp machine 30 years
ago"?!
A quick check in Wikipedia shows other people thought that in the Common Lisp
discussion. E.g. "In the first
way, a macro expansion can inadvertently make a symbolic
reference which the macro writer assumed will resolve in
a global namespace,"
How could the patent office let *that* stand?[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 09 2012 @ 04:01 AM EDT |
ISTR that this was pretty much the technique that ULTRAHLE used for Nintendo 64
emulation in 1999.
As you were trying to emulate an N64 on a PC the software got away from the
usual 'emulate every instruction for the processor' type as found in MAME.
ULTRAHLE loaded the rom image then scanned it to find common code sequences that
could be replaced by High Level Emulation (HLE) equivalents.
i.e. It emulated the N64 in a virtual machine but scanned the program/rom to use
simulated functions where possible for speed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UltraHLE[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 09 2012 @ 04:03 AM EDT |
I've just noticed PJ's PDF link in Update 2 which appears to declare
patent '104 as invalid.
Interestingly, I have David Gries' original 1971
book 'Compiler Construction for Digital Computers' (which is the basis
of the rejection) on my bookshelf. Unfortunately I read it so long ago that the
details are really fuzzy now, but it did contribute to my overall CompSci
education at the time. :-) [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 09 2012 @ 10:55 AM EDT |
That description sounds very much like what Grace Hopper described as the
"give and go" technique she developed for an early COBOL compiler to
hold onto a symbol until it could be assigned a storage location. She explained
that she modeled it from the basketball play.
[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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