Hardware Algorithms forNonnumeric Computation

This paper isconcerned with thedesign ofhardware algorithms fornonnumeric computation. Thesubset ofnonnumeric operations considered isderived fromstring processing languages suchasSnobol orhigh-level database languages usedindatabase management architectures. Being uniformly structured, thehard- warecould beimplemented using LSItechnology yielding an estimated pattern matching rateofabout 100million characters/s. Theproposed nonnumeric processor will find applications inthe environment ofparallel (orassociative) database management architectures, processing oflarge unstructured textual files, asa stand-alone microprocessor indigital communications which need simple search andupdate operations, orasanonnumeric CPUthat canbeusedalong withtheconventional CPU toexpedite string processing operations.