Method and apparatus for operating a data processor to execute software written using a foreign instruction set

摘要

An instruction set interpreter and translator provides dynamic idiom recognition by use of a programmable hash table. Idioms are sequences of consecutive instructions that occur frequently during execution. Interpretive execution of such idioms is optimized to attain high performance. Idioms are recognized dynamically during interpretive execution. A programmable hash table is extended with entries corresponding to newly recognized idioms as their frequency of occurrence exceeds a threshold.