A microprogrammed interpreter for concurrent euclid

ABSTRACT

There are several methods of executing programs written in a high level language. The most widely used is to compile the programs into machine language. Another is to translate the programs into some intermediate form and then to execute that form interpretively. A third method is to directly execute either the HLL or the intermediate form. This study was aimed at investigating the feasibility of directly executing the intermediate representation of the sequential features of Concurrent Euclid (CE) on the SEL 32/75 computer. The CE intermediate code was translated into Ecode, and a microprogrammed interpreter for Ecode was designed and implemented on the SEL, and benchmarked against the compiler. For the CPU-bound prime number algorithm Sieve of Eratosthenes, the interpreter was measured to be about twice as slow as the compiler, due primarily to poor overlap within microinstructions. Ecode was then modified, and a new translator and interpreter designed and implemented. The same benchmark then yielded comparable results for both the interpreter and compiler. We project that further changes in Ecode design and hardware support would result in substantial Ecode efficiency gains.

REFERENCES

• BROA75: Broadbent, J. K, "High Level Language Implementation Through Microprogramming". Microprogramming and Systems Architecture, Infotech State of the Art Report 23 1975.
• BROC73: Francois Robert Broca , Richard E. Merwin, Direct microprogrammed execution of the intermediate text from a high-level language compiler, Proceedings of the meeting on SIGPLAN/SIGMICRO interface, p.145-153, May 30-June 01, 1973, Harriman, New York, United States
• COOP80: Cooper, R. E. M., "The Direct Execution of Intermediate Languages on an Eclipse Computer". SIGMICRO March 1980.
• DuBO86: D. K. DuBose , D. K. Fotakis , D. Tabak, A microcoded RISC, Proceedings of the 19th annual workshop on Microprogramming, p.124-128, October 15-17, 1986, New York, New York, United States
• FAGI85: B. Fagin , Y. N. Patt , V. Srini , A. Despain, Compiling Prolog into microcode: a case study using the NCR/32-000, Proceedings of the 18th annual workshop on Microprogramming, p.79-88, December 03-06, 1985, Pacific Grove, California, United States
• GEE86: J. Gee , S. W. Melvin , Y. N. Patt, The implementation of Prolog via VAX 8600 microcode, Proceedings of the 19th annual workshop on Microprogramming, p.68-74, October 15-17, 1986, New York, New York, United States
• HOLT83: Holt, R., Concurrent Euclid, The UNIX System, and TUNIS. Addison-Wesley 1983 QA76.73 C64H64
• HABI81: Stanley Habib , Xue-Liang Yang, The use of a meta-assembler to design an M code interpreter on AMD2900 chips, ACM SIGMICRO Newsletter, v.12 n.4, p.38-50, Dec. 1981
• HASS76: Hassitt, A., Lyon, L. E., "An APL Emulator on System/370". IBM Systems Journal Volume 15 Number 4 June 1976.
• OKUN87: Hiroshi G. Okuno , Nobuyasu Osato , Ikuo Takeuchi, Firmware approach to fast Lisp interpreter, Proceedings of the 20th annual workshop on Microprogramming, p.1-11, December 01-04, 1987, Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States [doi>10.1145/255305.255306]
• SCHA83: Schaefer, M. T., Pratt, Y. N., "Improving the Performance of UCSD Pascal via Microprogramming on the PDP 11/60". Annual SIGMICRO Congress, 1983.
• SEL1: Reference Manual, SEL 32/75 Computer. Systems Engineering Laboratories Incorporated, August 1976. Publication Number 301-320075-00.
• SEL2: SEL 32/75 Series Writable Control Storage Users Manual. Systems Engineering Laboratories Incorporated, February 1979. Publication Number 301-322344-000.
• WIRT84: WIRT84 'Wirth, N., "Lilith: A Modula Machine". IByte, August 1984.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  B. Hardware
  B.1 CONTROL STRUCTURES AND MICROPROGRAMMING
      B.1.4 Microprogram Design Aids
          Subjects: Languages and compilers

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.7 Distribution, Maintenance, and Enhancement
          Subjects: Portability
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.2 Language Classifications

          Nouns: Concurrent Euclid
      D.3.4 Processors
          Subjects: Interpreters

General Terms:
Design, Languages