engineers, including ACM A.M. Turing Award laureate Fred Brooks, Jr., thought they could create a single ISA that would efficiently unify all four of these ISA bases.

They needed a technical solution for how computers as inexpensive as

WE BEGAN OUR Turing Lecture June 4, 201811 with a review of computer architecture since the 1960s. In addition to that review, here, we highlight current challenges and identify future opportunities, projecting another golden age for the field of computer architecture in the next decade, much like the 1980s when we did the research that led to our award, delivering gains in cost, energy, and security, as well as performance.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned
to repeat it.” —George Santayana, 1905

Software talks to hardware through a vocabulary
called an instruction set architecture (ISA). By the early
1960s, IBM had four incompatible lines of computers,
each with its own ISA, software stack, I/O system,
and market niche—targeting small business, large
business, scientific, and real time, respectively. IBM
A New Golden
Age for
Computer
Architecture
DOI: 10.1145/3282307

Innovations like domain-specific hardware,
enhanced security, open instruction sets, and
agile chip development will lead the way.
BY JOHN L. HENNESSY AND DAVID A. PATTERSON
key insights

˽ Software advances can inspire architecture innovation.

˽ Elevating the hardware/software interface creates opportunities for architecture innovation.

˽ The marketplace ultimately settles architecture debates.

turing lecture