When I worked on the first version of the "IBM Z / LinuxONE System Processor Optimization Primer" back in 2016, I was trying to come up with a document that could serve as an introduction to the microprocessor microarchitecture, the instruction set architecture, and performance optimization techniques, focusing on readers who work on "instruction level optimization" for the IBM Z platform but were not necessarily IBM Z experts. So, instead of a full-blown document, which would be a boring read, I pulled many presentations that had been created by myself or other IBMers and repackaged them into a fairly verbose presentation. My hope was that any reader could quickly grasp the ideas, and if they had further interests or questions, they would go into the referenced documents. As it turned out, the strategy worked out pretty well. The number of downloads of versions 1 and 2 amazed me, and I have occasionally gotten kudos from internal and external readers over the past years.
z15 was announced back in 2019, and I have been asked quite a few times when the new version would be coming out. Well, it has finally been released as version 3. Like version 2, it includes various corrections, clarifications, z15 related updates, and a few new "frequently asked questions." To download the presentation, please go to the
discussion thread here. Make sure you scroll down to my latest post and download version 3 and not version 2 of the document.
You may wonder why it took so long? Almost 2 years! Well, I have been very busy working on the processor after z15 and it is quite challenging and also very exciting. If you are curious and would like to learn more, look out for more information at the upcoming 2021 Hot Chips 33 Conference, where my colleague Christian Jacobi will be presenting about this next generation of the IBM Z microprocessor.
And as usual, if any reader would like to provide feedback, my email is in the document, and you can post comments in the discussion thread mentioned above.
Enjoy and thanks!!