ARM architecture is progressing – but there are challenges

ABSTRACT

ARM ISA processors are no longer used “only” for mobile phones and tablets, but also for server computers (even supercomputers) and laptops / desktops.
Apple has also switched from Intel to ARM on Macintosh computers. The big challenge in that transition was – how to enable program code written for Intel’s ISA architecture to run on an M1 processor that has an ARM architecture.
In general, the desire is that programs written for one ISA architecture can be executed with as little effort as possible on computers that have a different ISA architecture. The problem is that different ISA architectures can have quite different memory models.