> -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Assembler List > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of john gilmore > Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 11:33 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: number of new instructions > > The game of trying to count distinct instructions is, I > suppose, innocuous; but doing so serves no good purpose. > > The PROP treats MVI, MVIY, and MVC as variants of a generic > MOVE instruction; but it treats MVCLIN and MVCL as distinct > instructions. There is, I believe, a hardware, > instruction-implementation rationale for this distinction, > but there is no functional one. > > Or again, as Tony Harminc has just pointed out, the mnemonic > pair SIO, SIOF may be counted as one instruction or two. > > Examples of this sort can be multiplied ad nauseam by paging > through the PROP. A count of distinct instruction mnemonics > at time t--They are in an HLASM table having defined content > at time t--can be precise. A count of instructions cannot. > > Qualitatively, it can be said that there are many more > instructions than there once were; and that is enough. > > John Gilmore Ashland, MA 01721-1817 USA
I think the OP was trying to show how the architecture has advanced from the original S/360 days. One measure is "number of unique opcodes available". I would prefer "functionality", but that is more difficult to quantify. Should I really count the new 20bit offset variants of the historical 16bit offset instructons? E.g. is LAY really "new" vs. LA? Should I count LARL as separate from LA and LAY? LAE __is__ definately different from LA as it does "more". -- John McKown Systems Engineer IV IT Administrative Services Group HealthMarkets(r) 9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010 (817) 255-3225 phone * (817)-691-6183 cell [email protected] * www.HealthMarkets.com Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message may contain confidential or proprietary information. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. HealthMarkets(r) is the brand name for products underwritten and issued by the insurance subsidiaries of HealthMarkets, Inc. -The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company(r), Mid-West National Life Insurance Company of TennesseeSM and The MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company.SM
