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The Computer Journal 1981 24(3):210-221; doi:10.1093/comjnl/24.3.210
© 1981 by British Computer Society
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Principles of descriptors

J. M. Bishop1 * and D. W. Barron2 §

1 Computer Science Division, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2 Mathematics Department, The University, Southampton, UK

Descriptors are a popular feature in the design of new computer architectures but little has been written about the principles and pitfalls involved. Experience with writing and investigating compilers for two structured architectures, the Burroughs B6700 and the ICL 2900, has shown that the terms used in relation to descriptors often have contradictory meanings. Descriptors as implemented on these machines are often not the blessing they were made out to be. This paper seeks to enumerate and explain the operational function of descriptors; to define there area of application; to give evidence of the unwieldy aspects in current implementations; and to suggest how these may be improved.

Received March 1980.

* Computer Science Division, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa.

§ Mathematics Department, The University, Southampton SO9 5NH, UK.


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