5.7.2 Generic Architectures As an alternative to a standard architecture that is to be implemented by computing hardware directly, a common architecture maybe defined which is intended to be easily translated into the physical architecture of a variety of computers. A common compiler can produce code for the generic architecture, and a machine-dependent translation converts this code into native instructions for each specific system. This maybe an attractive approach if the translation step is simple and if the final performance of the software is not greatly reduced. The generic representation of the program maybe viewed as a low-level intermediate form in the translation process. It maybe translated to native machine code before execution, or it maybe interpreted on the fly.” Microprogrammed architectures may have the option of interpreting the generic machine code by a special microprogram. This option has become less common since the advent of RISC processors, which are usually not microprogrammed.
