Towards a specification of syntax and semantics for languages for horizontally microprogrammed machines

Abstract

Horizontally microprogrammable computers provide the potential for efficient use of hardware through parallel operation of internal resources. Present languages for microprogramming such computers, however, contain unnatural symbolism, inflexible format requirements, and additional constraints that are unnecessary for the functions the languages perform. The intrinsic characteristics of horizontally microprogrammable machines suggest the use of operator precedence languages to program them. We formally describe the syntax of a language, ANIMIL, along these lines and discuss some initial ideas on semantics of languages for horizontally microprogrammable machines. A brief report on present status and thoughts for future work conclude the paper.