Information Content of Programs and Operation Encoding

  • Authors:
  • Eric C. R. Hehner

  • Affiliations:
  • Computer Systems Research Group, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A4, Canada

  • Venue:
  • Journal of the ACM (JACM)
  • Year:
  • 1977

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Abstract

The problem of determining the minimum representation of programs for execution by a computer is considered. The methods of measuring space requirements suggest practical methods for encoding programs and for designing machine languages. An analysis of the operation portion of instructions finds that the 47 operation codes used by a well-known compiler require, on average, fewer than two bits each.