Industrial darwinism
T. Weidner, J. Ahlstrom, D. Gaubatz, M. Overgaard, Bruce D. Shriver · 1979
Comments in this discussion will be directed towards current developments, historical perspective, and prognostications concerning microprogramming and related subject areas. What challenges do the 1980's pose in the areas of virtual machine development, operating system support, and high level language execution using microprogramming techniques? The role of microprogramming seems to be evolving from a means of avoiding the complexities of computers ill suited to a task, to the more positive methodology of proper consideration and realization of those primitives appropriate to a task. These and other trends will be presented. The topic of firmware engineering will be discussed. What have we learned from software engineering? In particular, what are the difficulties associated with high order microprogramming languages for horizontal host architectures? Issues related to both horizontal and vertical migration of primitives in multi-level interpretive environments will be ennunciated. Outstanding problems in this and other areas will be presented.