threaded code

programming A technique for implementing virtual machine

interpreters, introduced by J.R. Bell in 1973, where each

op-code in the virtual machine instruction set is the

address of some (lower level) code to perform the required

operation. This kind of virtual machine can be implemented

efficiently in machine code on most processors by simply

performing an indirect jump to the address which is the next

instruction.

Many Forth implementations use threaded code and nowadays

some use the term "threading" for almost any technique used to

implement Forth's virtual machine.

.

["James R. Bell", "Threaded Code", CACM, 1973, 16, 6, pp

370-372].

["An Architectural Trail to Threaded Code Systems", Kogge,

P. M., IEEE Computer, March 1982].

(1998-09-02)