From: cdg@nullstone.com   
      
   > Even though I understand that this is an example, I still have the   
   > feeling that with just a single functional unit, the benefits of   
   > pipelining are marginal,   
      
   Actually, the benefits of software pipelining can be significant, even   
   for a single functional unit, if that functional unit has a multistage   
   pipeline.  Assuming the number of iterations is sufficiently large to   
   mask the prologue and epiloque, the number of cycles required to   
   execute any given iteration doesn't really matter.  The key is to   
   minimize the number of cycles needed to start each successive   
   iteration, otherwise known as the minimum iteration interval (MII).   
      
   Best,   
   Christopher Glaeser   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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