Program Translations

Binary Translation

This means translating from one machine language to another. Companies changing processors sometimes use binary translation to execute legacy code on new machines. Apple did this when converting from Motorola CISC processors to the PowerPC. An alternative is to have the new processor execute programs in both the new and old instruction set. Intel had the Itanium processor also execute x86 code. Apple, however, did not produce their own processors.

With the recent dominance of x86 processors, binary translators from x86 have been developed so that other microprocessors can be used to execute x86 software.

Hardware Synthesis

In the old days integrated circuits were designed by hand. For example, the NYU Ultracomputer research group in the 1980s designed a VLSI chip for rapid interprocessor coordination. The design software we used essentially let you paint. You painted blue lines where you wanted metal, green for polysilicon, etc. Where certain colors crossed, a transistor appeared.

Current microprocessors are much too complicated to permit such a low-level approach. Instead, designers write in a high level description language which is compiled down the specific layout.

Database Query Interpreters

The optimization of database queries and transactions is quite a serious subject.

Compiled Simulation

Instead of simulating a designs on many inputs, it may be faster to compiler the design first into a lower level representation and then execute the compiled version.