p-code

P-code

   <language> The {intermediate language} produced by the
   {Pascal-P} {compiler}.  P-code is the {assembly language} for
   a hypothetical {stack machine}, the P-machine, said to imitate
   the {instruction set} of the {Burroughs 6700}.

   The term was first used in the Wirth reference below.  {Byte}
   articles on writing a Pascal Compiler in {Northstar BASIC} (ca
   Aug 1978) also used the term.

   P-code was initially the intermediate code generated by the P2
   compiler from ETH Zurich.  P-code was later used as the
   intermediate language in the {UCSD Pascal System}, and in its
   two main derivatives, {Apple Pascal} and the {UCSD P-system}.

   Variants: P2 P-code, P4 P-code, UCSD P-code, LASL P-code.

   [Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs, N. Wirth, P-H 1976].

   ["A Comparison of PASCAL Intermediate Languages", P.A. Nelson,
   SIGPLAN Notices 14(8):208-213, Aug 1979].

   (2004-11-08)