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ucb-bar / riscv-sodor

educational microarchitectures for risc-v isa
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why is this named after the beloved island home of thomas the tank engine and friends? #61

Closed WhirligigGirl closed 3 years ago

WhirligigGirl commented 3 years ago

not an issue, i'm just curious.

aswaterman commented 3 years ago

The first RISC-V implementation was named Trainwreck because of its tight time budget and immature physical-design environment. Incidentally, Trainwreck is also the name of a strain of cannabis, which mellowed us towards naming things after trains instead of wrecks. The first successful RISC-V implementation was named Rocket, after Stephenson’s engine; the simulator was named Spike, after the golden spike used to mark the completion of the transcontinental railroad; and the educational cores are named as you’ve observed.