Talk:MMIX

Name fix, feature request

Should MIXX be changed to MMIX? --Hirzel

Quickly noticed, Hirzel! Have fixed it. Also, I have foolishly re-ambiguated MIX by creating a "MIX" node, instead of the intended "MIX architecture" node. There is also a "Mix" node in the music category. I am not sure what the policy on case-sensitivity is... --Ejrh

Thank you for clarifying. A wish - It would be nice to have a graphical representation of the MMIX architecture and perhaps some code examples. --Hirzel

Article format (factoring)

I noticed there seems to be a disagreement on the preferred format of the article as regards textual factoring, i.e. what part of the text fits naturally in the intro blurb vs in the article's body (see history). Naturally, since I made the refactoring which has now been reverted, I would like to get some comments on that. My reason to refactor was that I thought a short background (i.e. mention of original MIX) was better placed in the intro paragraph, and that elaboration of MMIX should be placed in the body, where one could also put even more info if wanted. The wording as such was fine. --Wernher 19:16, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

(Woops, sorry for not getting back on this sooner.) Looking back at your changes, there was an issue with the wording.

• First sentence: I removed the word "fictional", as MMIX is real.
• Second sentence: Since MMIX is the topic, we should first talk about MMIX, rather than MIX. What is it? What is it used for? Those are the questions that should be answered in the first paragraph.
• (Then, in the second paragraph, we can talk about MIX.)

I guess I see your point. More people will have heard of MIX than MMIX, so you could start off talking about MIX. But it could be confusing to people who have not come across either of them. Also, you called Knuth's books "textbooks". :) I couldn't let you get away with that. Hehe. (See [1] (http://www.amsci.org/amsci/bookshelf/centurylist.html)) -- Dan Matic 00:24, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Hello, thanks for replying. I now see you point about the intro paragraph, so no problems with that wrt contents. As pertains MMIX being a fictional computer or not, however, I put in that word to distinguish MMIX from 'real/commercial' virtual computers, i.e. actual software products emulating real-life computers, so that people can use them to run 'real' software. An example is IBM's VM/CMS stuff on the S/360/370 range. Assuming I haven't misunderstood things, MMIX is (like MIX) an educational/experimental machine architecture never meant to be realized and used for running production software. Hence my use of 'fictional' as a distinguishing adjective. --Wernher 22:55, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I guess you're right, but I still don't think the word 'fictional' fits. :) I suppose I should add more content and explain that MMIX is primarily intended to be an educational tool. (It's being used in various university courses to teach programming and compiler design.) Then again, I doubt many people would be reading this page. I'm fascinated that you've even stumbled upon it! -- Dan Matic 16:20, 1 May 2004 (UTC)

Hello, world

Has anyone else noticed that, contrary to the article, there is not an example on Hello_world_program as of 14:43, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)?

Yes, this was my fault, but I've added it now :) 145.97.223.187 15:28, 6 Mar 2005 (UTC)