Would there be any benefit from implementing types at the CPU level? Has it been tried?
Like say adding an 8-bit type flag to each instruction, and keeping a table of which memory ranges have which type, then only allowing compatible instructions on that memory?
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Would there be any benefit from implementing types at the CPU level? Has it been tried?
Like say adding an 8-bit type flag to each instruction, and keeping a table of which memory ranges have which type, then only allowing compatible instructions on that memory?
Yes it's been done a bunch of times in the past, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagged_architecture. Probably most notably lisp machines which the sibling comment mentioned.
Lisp machines come to mind, like the Symbolics 3600.