From: Bogus@Embarq.com   
      
   Hi,   
      
   "Rick C. Hodgin"  writes:   
   >Are there any generic assembly languages out there which do something like   
   >define a virtual machine with certain 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit operations,   
   >which can be referenced generically through its syntax, but generally will   
   >translate 1:1 with real ISAs like x86 and ARM?   
      
      In the original editions of Donald E. Knuth's "The Art of Computer   
   Programming", Volume 1, "Fundemental Algorithms", he defines an   
   assembly language called MIX.  This was based on a set of mainframe   
   and mini computers.  It was a CISC language, and I have heard that   
   more modern editons use a RISC language.  MIX was designed so that   
   operations would not be dependent on byte size or whether the computer   
   was binary or decimal logic.   
      
      I found the his books interesting, I have volumes 1 - 3.  I also   
   found his assembly language was fairly easy to translate into Intel   
   X86 assembler.  Though at the time I was using 16-bit DOS code.  I   
   investigated a number of sorting algorithms that he described.  The   
   program was over 4,000 lines long.  And used up a lot of time.  Fun   
   stuff.   
      
   Cheers,   
      
   Steve N.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)