Microcode: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:00, 11 October 2005

Revision as of 02:21, 3 November 2005

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==History==

Before 1951, the control logic for central processing units was designed by ''[[ad hoc]]'' methods. One of the simplest was to use rings of [[Flip-flop (electronics)|flip-flop]]s to sequence the computer's control logic.

In [[1951]] [[Maurice Wilkes]] had a fundamental insight. He realized that if one takes the control signals for a computer, one could understand them as being played much like a [[player piano]] roll. That is, they are controlled by a sequence of very wide words constructed of [[bit]]s.