8 Feb
2012
8 Feb
'12
7:25 p.m.
On 8 Feb 2012 at 21:40, Sean Conner wrote:
[5] Odd, isn't it? If the CPU can interpret the
binary data directly,
it's execution. If not, then it's interpretation, unless you are
trying to interpret the machine code for another machine, then it's
called emulation.
Starting way back when, there were machines that trapped on
unimplemented opcodes and diverted the implementation to subroutines.
If the machine was upgraded with the associated option, the opcode
was implemented in hardware. Standard practice at least since the
early 1960s.
Other machines simply rolled the subroutines into microcode
implementations and substituted hard-wired versions when upgraded. I
suppose you could call that "emulation" as well.
I guess it's like pornography--you know it when you see it?
--Chuck