History of RISC/CISC

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  • 1950s IBM instituted a research program
  • 1964 Release of System/360
  • Mid-1970s improved measurement tools demonstrated on CISC
  • 1975 801 project initiated at IBM’s Watson Research Center
  • 1979 32-bit RISC microprocessor (801) developed led by Joel Birnbaum
  • 1984 MIPS developed at Stanford, as well as projects done at Berkeley
  • 1988 RISC processors had taken over high-end of the workstation market
  • Early 1990s IBM’s POWER (Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC) architecture introduced w/ the RISC System/6k
    • AIM (Apple, IBM, Motorola) alliance formed, resulting in PowerPC


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