Re: What is byte-code ?

Nathan Moore wrote:


> Byte code is interpreted one byte at a time, so that endianness is not
> an issue.


Depending on why you mean by `byte` and `bytecode` that may not be true ...


The most recent VM I wrote had instructions that were 16 bits
wide. You could say it had 16-bit bytes. (As it happens, the opcode
part was 5 bits wide, with 3 other bits that were either an operand
specification or more opcode - so you *could* say it was an
8-bit-byte-code, because the opcodes are 8 bits wide and the operand
another 8.)


(I called them `shortcodes`.)


(Yes, branch instructions demanded some attention. There were two, one
for forward, one for backward. There's a certain schoolboy pleasure in
having a GOB instruction.)


--
Chris "electric hedgehog" Dollin

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