A study of the application of compiler techniques to the generation of micro-code

Abstract

With the advent of writable control memories, the opportunity for using “firmware” to implement software systems increases dramatically. This paper presents one approach to the problem of constructing a micro-program compiler which uses a machine-independent language. While this kind of compiler language may not generate micro-programs as efficient as those constructed by assembly language, the improvement in documentation, the ease of locating logic errors, and the possibility of using micro-programs on different computer systems make a micro-programming compiler a useful tool.