Talk:One instruction set computer

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In my opinion, "The Ultimate RISC" is a better entry point for the notions discussed in the two articles on URISC and OISC. For one thing, the URISC concept predates that of OISC and it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal with an archival record of the design and its justifications. As far as I can tell, OISC is documented only in web pages. For another, the term OISC (one instruction set computer) is grammatically incorrect. Its correct interpretation is "a computer that has one instruction set" (i.e., any computer), not a computer that has a single instruction. In reply to comments on usefulness of the concept, the URISC article clearly states that URISC is a pedagogical tool, rather than the design for a viable computer. It is helpful to think about issues in computer hardware design (at an introductory level) without the clutter arising from the definition of many instructions. Bparhami 04:29, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

"The URISC concept" is the same thing as "that of OISC", so it can't predate it. The URISC, as documented in the paper referred to by the URISC page, is a computer with a "subtract and branch if negative" instruction; that's one form of computer with an instruction set with one instruction. You can, if you choose, debate what name the Wikipedia page for the concept of a computer with only one instruction can be called, but it's pretty clear that the concept deserves only one Wikipedia page, not two. I suspect most papers, Web sites, etc. call it "OISC"; if so, that's the right name for it.
I don't remember when I first encountered the concept of a single-instruction computer, so I don't know whether it existed before the U of Waterloo paper.
Googling for "one instruction set computer" turned up many links, including a Google Books link for the book Computer Architecture: A Minimalist Perspective by William F. Gilreath and Phillip A. Laplante, discussing both "subtract and branch if negative" and "move", so, clearly, it's not documented only in Web pages.
One could argue that the term is grammatically incorrect, but people use it, probably because its abbreviation matches the regular expression "[A-Z]ISC". Guy Harris 07:36, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
According to W. F. Gilreath and P. A. Laplante (Computer Architecture: A Minimalist Perspective, 2003, p.51), an OISC was first described in 1956/59:

A one instruction computer was first described by van der Poel in his thesis, "The Logical Principles of Some Computers" [1956] and in an article "Zebra, a simple binary computer" [1959]. van der Poel's computer called ZEBRA ... was a subtract and branch if negative machine.

Concerning grammatical correctness, I suppose OISC is an acronym for "one-instruction set computer" (which is perfectly fine), but somehow the hyphen gets omitted. Still, it sees to me the preferred entry point. --r.e.s. (talk) 05:48, 23 December 2007 (UTC)


Is this useful?

I.e, is there a point in building computers with this technique? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.65.121.87 (talk • contribs) 13:54, 9 March 2005 (UTC)

See Esoteric_programming_languages
"Usability is rarely a high priority for such languages. The usual aim is to remove or replace conventional language features while still maintaining a language that is Turing-complete. Thus, by adhering to some principles while deliberately making no sense as a whole, these languages are perhaps the programming equivalent of nonsense verse." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.35.85.74 (talk • contribs) 16:18, 17 May 2005 (UTC)
Well, it can theoretically do quite a lot, and in fact it can probably do anything at all. It's just harder to do everything :-) --Ihope127 16:10, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
Interesting question.
What about logarithm, I mean before few thousands of them where tabulated?
And Babbage's machines, which I am sure Ada Lovelace would have started debugging with the passion of a pioneer?
And FORTAN: how many time did it integrate bravely EXP(-X/DKAY)*COS(2.0*PI*X+PHAS) in a manageable handful set of punch cards before someone eventually thought of wasting 0.032 seconds of its Wednesday compile time budget to print "1H(1)***HELLO_WORD***" somewhere in the twenty page cabalistic listing.
Yes, this is actually a very enlightening subject when trying to think about how computers actually work. Furthermore, there may be an argument about designing the simplest possible computer hardware (Nanoscale computers anyone??) --216.204.206.146 21:03, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

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About the suggested merges, I strongly advocate in favor

  • OISC, SBN and URISC are minor variants. In facts, three out of 8 possible (and equivalent) options. In my opinion, the less user-unpractical is an (I think) undocumented reverse-subtract-and-branch-if-negative-or-zero.
  • The distinction is however spurious because, if OISC come to practical life, humans will probably never code more than the one needed interface instruction.
  • Moreover, nothing grants that the type of variant actually used, or produced, will be quanticaly observable.
AlainD 23:29, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

I am strongly in favor of URISC being made a subsection of OISC. OISC should refer to all possible machines with one instruction, and all should be in one place. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.61.33.211 (talk • contribs) 20:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC) ---

In favor of all merges. However OISC should be the encompassing article. It referes to the framework within which all these other phenomenon exist. --66.112.246.75 04:33, 28 June 2006 (UTC)


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I'm confused, does this page provide three examples of OISC's (therefore three instructions that could be used for such a thing?) If so, it should be reworded to say that "*A* One Instruction Set Computer is a single machine language opcode...". It should then say "There are three known such instructions that can be used to implement a OISC: Subtract and branch if negative (SUBLEQ), Reverse-subtract and skip if borrow (RSSB), and Move. -- 216.204.206.146 20:58, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Subtract and Branch if Negative isn't possible as suggested in the article. The article suggests you can use simply the interpreter, but that isn't actually a complete computer: You need the ability to access registers and store numerical values in the program itself. There is simply no way around it. 129.210.145.73 03:39, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I believe OISC should be merged into the (IMO more scientific and more general term) URISC. Quickly looking at citeseer, URISC is first mentioned in 1997 [1] and another two times later, OISC is mentioned once in a 2003 technical report [2]. Also anyone who's not a trained computer scientist please stop speculating on whether a URISC computer is practical/useful. This is besides the point. No one's asking you to translate your C programs to brainfuck and throw away your x86 and buy a URISC. It's a theoretical concept. Please comment on how/whether/why the articles should be merged... Alex.g (talk) 08:53, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] this is a joke

Somebody slapped a fresh new name on the turing machine. Probably this article should be a redirect, or at least stripped down to a simple explanation of the joke. AlbertCahalan 04:50, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, it's become a common name, and what makes you think it's a joke? ajdlinux 06:03, 27 May 2007 (UTC)
See comment (5) at this webpage for my opinion about this; OISC is a lot more than a mere change of name. --r.e.s. (talk) 05:48, 23 December 2007 (UTC)