Discovering Nontrivial and Functional Behavior in
Register Machines
Anthony Joseph
Past Student
University of Technology Sydney
anthonyjoseph.nks@gmail.com
Abstract
Nontrivial and functional behavior in register machines is examined. Register machines are simple implementations of modern information and communications technology and provide a computationally simple vehicle for investigating examples of nontrivial and functional behavior. They also provide opportunities for optimizing information and communication technologies to use fewer resources or perform functions more quickly.
A simple two-register, four-instruction register machine was analyzed using soft and hard analytical techniques. Examples of nontrivial and functional behavior were identified by observing two-register, four-instruction register machines with various initial conditions. These register machines were identified by an exhaustive search of all possible register machine configurations meeting a particular definition. A subsequent investigation into the randomness in register machine components involved a frequency analysis, comparing program counter and register values against the discrete uniform distribution.
It is possible to observe examples of cyclical and conditional behavior, register-dependent and register-independent behavior, randomness in the register machine's program counter and registers, and foundation arithmetic functions. Further analysis of this register machine configuration yields opportunities for synthesizing multiple functions into a single register machine and optimizing functional register machines by brute-force testing all possible register machines.
