Kopec Explains Software
Computing Concepts Simplified
4 years ago

#23 The Mac's Instruction Set Architecture Transitions

From 68K to PowerPC to X86 to ARM

Apple is transitioning the Mac from Intel's X86-64 based microprocessors to its own Apple Silicon built on the ARM64 instruction set. But the Mac has already been through two other similar transitions! In this episode we discuss the transitions and how they affect software. We delve into the 1994 transition from the Motorola 68K line to the Motorola/IBM PowerPC, and the 2006 transition from PowerPC to Intel. Finally, we talk about going from Intel to Apple Silicon. Along the way we discuss mitigation strategies for software developers like universal binaries and emulation.

Show Notes

Follow us on Twitter @KopecExplains.

Theme “Place on Fire” Copyright 2019 Creo, CC BY 4.0

Find out more at http://kopec.live