Please read:

Sections 3.1 through 3.4 of the Patterson & Hennessy text;
the attached case (``Byte Addressing: From Laboratory to Practice''); and
the attached paper (``Hardware/Software Tradeoffs for Increased Performance''), particularly the passages marked with a wavey line in the left margin. You will probably find parts of this paper hard to understand; you need not master the whole thing.

Be prepared to discuss the following issues based on the case:

1. How would you summarize the points of view of the two Johns?

2. Hennessy's performance claim is based on the increased length of a certain logic path in the byte-addressed machine. What hardware is involved?

3. From your knowledge of C, what problems can you imagine in a port of C-based Unix to a word-addressed architecture?

4. What should Hennessy do?