CPU/Hardware optimized for Erlang

[Ulf Wiger]

Den 2005-07-21 16:42:09 skrev Marc van Woerkom  
<Marc.Vanwoerkom@REDACTED>:

> Has there been any cpu/hardware design optimized
> for Erlang?
>
> Would one aim for a beam virtual machine in hardware
> or something more lowlevel, but still optimized
> somehow?

Well, there is the old Erlang Processor (ECOMP)
(http://www.erlang.se/euc/00/processor.ppt)

I think that perhaps if it had materialized during 2001,
and e.g. the robotics industry, or people building small
embedded devices, had taken an interest in it and Erlang,
then perhaps it could have been successful.

Now, after 4 years of no progress, I think multi-core
CPUs and multi-pro Erlang shows much more promise for
the high-end, even if perhaps not for very small embedded
devices. OTOH, I don't see people breaking down doors to
be able to use Erlang in these systems. They seem content
with Java, or even C.

That was otherwise a very intriguing niche for ECOMP:
a small cheap chip (50-100,000 gates), perhaps 2-300 MHz,
really low power, and support for a high-level language
that does concurrency and fault-tolerance well enough
not to need an operating system. Also, latency and GC
would have been quite easy to get a handle on.

/Uffe