Re: 6502, 65816 = RISC ?

[wbaguhn@nyx10.cs.du.edu (Will Baguhn)]

In article <jd-wong-1408961443530001@canberra-2.slip.uiuc.edu>,
Jim Wong <jd-wong@uiuc.edu> wrote:
>In article <3211B31A.27EC@esis.vsnet.ch>, Gilles Tschopp > 
>> Moreover, the 6502 has only five registers and can manage 
>> directly the memory. So it has less opcodes to execute, compared 
>> with the 8086, and can be considered as RISC.
>> 
>> For you, can you consider the 6502 (and 65816) as RISC ? 
>> 
>> I would like to know your advice ! Thank you.
>
>My feeling: No, absolutely not.
>
>-- 
>Jim Wong (jd-wong@uiuc.edu)

The 65x series are CISC processors; there is no use debating it.

The may be the most RISC-like of the CISC processors, but they are
*NOT* RISC.

Besides... the 6502 has more like 3 registers (A,X,Y).  The other two
(PC, S) can't be used for anything other than their intended purpose
without careful screwy programming, and their intended purpose is NOT
holding or manipulating processor data.

The 65816/65802 in 8 bit mode has 4 (A,B,X,Y), but that's as close as
you get to 5.  :)
-- 
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