Hardware/software tradeoffs

Abstract

Hardware and software are logically equivalent. Any operation performed by software can also be built directly into the hardware and any instruction executed by the hardware can also be simulated in software. The decision to put certain features in hardware and others in software is based on such factors as cost, speed, reliability and frequency of change. There are no hard and fast rules to the effect that X must go into the hardware and Y must be programmed explicitly. Designers with different goals may, and often do, make different decisions... the boundary between hardware and software is arbitrary and constantly changing. Today's software is tomorrow's hardware, and vice versa. [1]