Processor Including Age Tracking of Issue Queue Instructions

A method of processing instructions, comprising:

• providing, by an instruction source, a stream of instructions;
• decoding, by a decoder, the stream of instructions to provide decoded instructions;
• dispatching, by a dispatcher, decoded instructions to an issue queue that includes an instruction data store (IDS) having a plurality of queue positions that store the dispatched instructions, the issue queue further including an age matrix for managing the relative age of each dispatched instruction stored in the IDS with respect to other dispatched instructions stored in the IDS, the age matrix including a plurality of memory cells configured in a number of rows and a number of columns;
• wherein during the dispatching of at least one instruction, the at least one instruction is stored in the IDS, the issue queue updating the age matrix to reflect the age of the at least one instruction relative to other instructions in the issue queue, wherein during the dispatching of the at least one instruction the issue queue modifies the age matrix row and column memory cells that correspond to the at least one instruction's queue position to reflect the relative age of the at least one instruction with respect to other instructions in the IDS.