The Growth of Interest in Microprogramming: A Literature Survey
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
ACM SIGMICRO Newsletter
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Computers respond to many programming languages. Instruction formats of different computers differ from one another. The instruction list of a given computer presents a variety of instruction types and grades. Moreover, every computer can be addressed in as many languages as there are applications and levels of sophistication. For efficient computer use, the quality by which a computer language must be judged is its degree of abstraction with respect to the machine logic. Such abstraction tends ideally toward natural human language. The programming convenience due to the use of an abstraction is usually counter-balanced by a proportionate loss of operating efficiency. For the purpose of finding a common point of departure in this variety of language, and of achieving high efficiency, it is interesting to consider micro-commands, the primary building-blocks of all types of computer instruction. Micro-commands cause a machine to open gates, trigger flip-flops, and perform other useful circuit functions. They consequently can control the wired logic which mechanizes the machine-language instructions found in the instruction in the instruction list of the conventional computer.