This invention relates to a system for and methods of executing a software program.
It is becoming more and more common for Processors Manufacturer to release the design criteria of a new processor a considerable time before the processor is available in hardware form and in particular before the internal circuitry of the processor is known. (The term processor includes microprocessors, digital signal processors, microcode processors and any other programmable sequenced-based digital circuitry). One example is Intelt's PENTIUM (Registered Trade Mark). Software Designers are obviously keen to have software available for such new processors as soon as devices incorporating them come on to the market. Equally hardware Designers wish to know whether they can use the new processor with particular software and peripheral hardware. Attempts at simulating processors have been made but these are very limited in their application and in particular tend to require a knowledge of the internal architecture of the processor before any steps can be taken. They may also require the creation of a compiler for that particular processor.