P-code - definition

 
<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.
 
.
 
["A Comparison of PASCAL Intermediate Languages", P.A. Nelson,
SIGPLAN Notices 14(8):208-213, Aug 1979].
 
(2004-11-08)