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Meta: A language system for bitslice applications
Author(s) -
Witsel Willem Maarten
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
software: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1097-024X
pISSN - 0038-0644
DOI - 10.1002/spe.4380120402
Subject(s) - microcode , computer science , programming language , programmer , datapath , simple (philosophy) , simplicity , ideal (ethics) , software engineering , embedded system , operating system , philosophy , epistemology
Bitslice technology is a widely used method for building microprogrammable bitslice processors. Manufacturer supplied language tools required for the production of the microcode, however, are usually too expensive. The Meta system, described in this paper, provides the necessary language facilities at minimal cost, making it ideal for small bitslice projects. The concept of the Meta system is very simple: a description of the datapath structure and the information processing capabilities of the bitslice processor is written using the four basic operations of the Meta language. Meta uses this description to generate a translator for machine‐oriented microprogramming language. This offers the programmer a tool for implementing microprogrammed functions. Because of the simplicity of the Meta system, language translators can be built in a very short period of time.