The Micro8 microcode assembler

Abstract

This paper describes Micro8, a commercially-available microcode assembler written in ISO standard Pascal to enhance portability. Micro8 is designed to be a useful tool for both bit-slice and discrete logic designs. Considerable flexibility in definition of the microinstruction is provided to support both vertical and horizontal microwords. Debugging assistance is included in the form of a symbol cross reference listing, a map of control store locations, and diagnostic messages. Various features provided by the assembler are described, as are examples of typical microprogram sections.