The “cultures” of microprogramming

Abstract

I discuss four “cultures” of microprogramming. I call them: the Commercial Machine Culture, the Bit-Slice Culture, the Microprogrammable Machine Culture, and the Single-Chip Culture. Commonly used microprogramming terms mean different things to people from different cultures. I define the cultures and then contrast some microprogramming folklore with realities from my culture (the Single-Chip Culture). When you read or hear statements about microprogramming, know which culture is speaking. I hope discrepancies between some folklore and reality in the single-chip case will convince you it's important.