Friday, January 25, 2008

Weird Real-World Pipeline

One of the things I asked my students to do when we studied pipelining was to find a real-world pipeline. I'm thinking, you know, the Model A assembly line, that kind of thing.

One of my students came up with this one.

A little context: this "Algorithm taisou" (exercise), invented here in Japan, as far as I know, is normally done by a couple of young guys in suits who go out into the real world and find a half a dozen people (firemen, factory workers) to do this little rhythmic routine with them to music. It's used as an interlude during an NHK kid's program.

You can argue pretty easily that this is a real, eight-stage pipeline. It even has structural hazards: the air between the people ("instructions") flowing through is a shared resource, and the pipeline is carefully constructed so that collisions ("pipeline stalls" or incorrect operation) never occur (as long as the dance is done right :-). I don't see any data or control hazards, though.

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