#104 – David Patterson: Computer Architecture and Data Storage

22 snips

Jun 27, 2020

David Patterson, a renowned Turing Award winner and professor at Berkeley, discusses the groundbreaking impact of RISC architecture and RAID storage on modern computing. He delves into the evolution of microprocessors and the significance of Moore's Law. Patterson shares insights on the RISC vs. CISC debate, touching on how these architectures influence programming languages. The conversation also explores the rise of RISC-V and its implications for IoT and future tech, while emphasizing the essential interplay between teaching and research in advancing computer science.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Layers of Abstraction

Computer science uses layers of abstraction to manage complexity in hardware and software.
Each layer hides the details of the layer below, simplifying interaction and understanding.

ANECDOTE

RISC vs. CISC

RISC, or Reduced Instruction Set Computer, was a controversial idea, challenging the prevailing CISC approach.
The debate centered on whether simpler or complex instructions were better for microprocessors.

ANECDOTE

Accurate Predictions

David Patterson's 1995 prediction about microprocessors was surprisingly accurate, showing the enduring nature of basic instructions.
He predicted that things would look familiar, and they do; the instructions haven't changed drastically.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

David Patterson is a Turing award winner and professor of computer science at Berkeley. He is known for pioneering contributions to RISC processor architecture used by 99% of new chips today and for co-creating RAID storage. The impact that these two lines of research and development have had on our world is immeasurable. He is also one of the great educators of computer science in the world. His book with John Hennessy “Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach” is how I first learned about and was humbled by the inner workings of machines at the lowest level.

Support this podcast by supporting these sponsors:
– Jordan Harbinger Show: https://jordanharbinger.com/lex/
– Cash App – use code “LexPodcast” and download:
– Cash App (App Store): https://apple.co/2sPrUHe
– Cash App (Google Play): https://bit.ly/2MlvP5w

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. If you would like to get more information about this podcast go to https://lexfridman.com/ai or connect with @lexfridman on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Medium, or YouTube where you can watch the video versions of these conversations. If you enjoy the podcast, please rate it 5 stars on Apple Podcasts, follow on Spotify, or support it on Patreon.

Here’s the outline of the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

OUTLINE:
00:00 – Introduction
03:28 – How have computers changed?
04:22 – What’s inside a computer?
10:02 – Layers of abstraction
13:05 – RISC vs CISC computer architectures
28:18 – Designing a good instruction set is an art
31:46 – Measures of performance
36:02 – RISC instruction set
39:39 – RISC-V open standard instruction set architecture
51:12 – Why do ARM implementations vary?
52:57 – Simple is beautiful in instruction set design
58:09 – How machine learning changed computers
1:08:18 – Machine learning benchmarks
1:16:30 – Quantum computing
1:19:41 – Moore’s law
1:28:22 – RAID data storage
1:36:53 – Teaching
1:40:59 – Wrestling
1:45:26 – Meaning of life