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Micron: a Microprogrammed Computer by Paul A. V. Thomas is a Computer Science article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Micron: a Microprogrammed Computer about?

Introductio n Computer programming can be loosely divided into three levels : High level, Assembler and Microprogramming . In mos t Computer Science curricula, students are first introduced t o programming in a course using a High Level Language such as Pascal, Modula2, etc . In the next year this will be typicall y followed by a course in Assembler Language specific to a particular computer and finally, probably in a Compute r Architecture course there will be some mention, possibly just on e or two lectures, on the concept of Microprogramming ; generall y this will not involve the student in writing any actual microcode , no doubt due to lack of suitable equipment . Although mos t modern computers use a microprogrammed control unit , normally this can not be modified as it, in fact, defines th e instruction set for the computer ; there was of course on e minicomputer which was designed for ease of experimenta l microcoding, the Hewlett Packard 21MX but this was relativel y expensive . Having taught Computer Architecture courses ove r the last several years, I always thought that this was a real hole i n the students' experience, not actually carrying out any microcod e programmin

Who reads Micron: a Microprogrammed Computer?

Author

Paul A. V. Thomas

Publisher

ACM

Published

1990

Language

EN

Field

Computer Science (Physical Sciences)