Summary

The majority of modern 32-bit and 64-bit processors combine most, if not all, of the performance-enhancing techniques presented in this chapter. A typical consumer-grade personal computer or smartphone contains a single main processor integrated circuit with four cores, each of which supports the simultaneous multithreading of two threads. This processor is superscalar, superpipelined, and contains three levels of cache memory. The processor decodes instructions into µops and performs sophisticated branch prediction.

Although the techniques presented in this chapter might seem overly complicated and arcane, in fact, each of us uses them routinely and enjoys the performance benefits that they yield each time we interact with any kind of computing device. The processing logic required to implement pipelining and superscalar operation is undeniably complex, but semiconductor manufacturers go to the effort of implementing these features for one simple reason: it pays...