ISP: A Language to Describe Instruction Sets and Other Register Transfer Systems,
Abstract
The paper describes the evolution of a notation, ISP (Instruction Set Processor), which was originally developed for defining the instruction set, data-types and operations and the interpreter of a computer, giving essentially the same information as in a programming manual. ISP has been used in a book (Bell and Newell, 1971), in programming manuals, and papers to describe many computers. As part of the evolution of the language, much consideration has been given to the readability and simplicity of the notation as a descriptive tool, as well as to some other properties such as extensibility and fidelity, required by the notation as a design tool. ISP has also been extended (evolved) to handle Register Transfer (RT) systems for description, simulation and design purposes, including a flow chart form used in the Register Transfer Module System (Bell, Grason and Newell, 1972). For RT design it has been necessary to incorporate additional facilities to describe the switching circuits (i.e. combinational and sequential components). (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 02, 1972
- Accession Number
- AD0751296
Entities
People
- A. Newell
- C. G. Bell
- M. Barbacci
Organizations
- Carnegie Mellon University