A machine description language
Peter Boulton · The Computer Journal · 1979
This paper describes a machine description language (MDL) which may be used to describe the programming properties of many currently available computers. These descriptions are intended as input to an algorithmic code emitter generator. The machine descriptions are hierarchical, with the operand addressing properties separated out from instruction formal and instruction semantics specifications. Consequently, the descriptions are relatively concise and readily understandable. The development of this language is seen as a contribution to the automatic generation of compiler code emitters and to program portability.