Back to ComputerTerms Guiding Hardware Design Principles 1. Simplicity favors regularity: Add A, B, C always has three arguments. More than three arguments would require complexity in the more hardware. This regularity allows simplicity of design, and '''simplicity''' is important for speed in design. 1. Smaller is faster: large numbers of resisters will increase ClockCycle time. 1. Good design demands good compromises: The MIPS instructions set is kind of mixed up, but it packs in as much functionality as it can by changing the format of an instruction while maintaining the same length. 1. Make the common case fast. Back to ComputerTerms