This small, typewriter-typeset monograph summarizes the architecture, instruction set, and hardware characteristics of 12 early United States and English RISC machines, both experimental and commercial, based on the published status as of mid-1985.

Descriptions of the Berkeley RISC I and II are given in considerable detail, together with the rationale of their design. Some rough performance figures on the RISC machines and other machines are quoted. A bibliography of some 60 references from 1980 to early 1986 are given.

Some novel machines are included--the Acorn RISC machine, the Metaforth MF 1600, and a Single Instruction Computer, CMOVE. The characterization of the RISC machines includes single cycle instructions, few instructions and addressing modes, memory access only by LOAD/STORE, a large register set, and support by a high-level language.