Definition

speculation (speculative loading)

Part of the Microprocessors glossary:

Speculation (also known as speculative loading ), is a process implemented in Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing ( EPIC ) processors and their compiler s to reduce processor-memory exchanging bottlenecks or latency by putting all the data into memory in advance of an actual load instruction. Invalid changes or exceptions to the load are delayed and cross-checked until the processor finally resolves them.

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Intel's IA-64 architecture is based on EPIC and the first processor in the IA-64 line, the Itanium , uses speculation.

This was last updated in March 2011
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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