On Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:10:35 +1200, Gregory Ewing wrote: > Brad wrote: > >> I've heard of Java CPUs. Has anyone implemented a Python CPU in VHDL or >> Verilog? > > Not that I know of. > > I've had thoughts about designing one, just for the exercise. > > It's doubtful whether such a thing would ever be of practical use. > Without as much money as Intel has to throw at CPU development, it's > likely that a Python chip would always be slower and more expensive than > an off-the-shelf CPU running a tightly-coded interpreter.
I recall back in the late 80s or early 90s, Apple and Texas Instruments collaborated to build a dual-CPU Lisp machine. I don't remember all the details, but it was an Apple Macintosh II with a second CPU running (I think) a TI Explorer (possibly on a Nubus card?), with an integration layer that let the two hardware machines talk to each other. It was dual- branded Apple and TI. It was a major flop. It was released around the time that general purpose CPUs started to get fast enough to run Lisp code faster than a custom- made Lisp CPU could. I don't remember the actual pricing, so I'm going to make it up... you got better performance from a standard Mac II with software Lisp for (say) $12,000 than you got with a dedicated Lisp machine for (say) $20,000. (These are vaguely recalled 1980s prices. I'm assuming $10K for a Mac II and $2K for the Lisp compiler. Of course these days a $400 entry level PC is far more powerful than a Mac II.) There were also Forth chips, which let you run Forth in hardware. I believe they were much faster than Forth in software, but were killed by the falling popularity of Forth. -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
