microinstruction - meaning and definition. What is microinstruction
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What (who) is microinstruction - definition

LAYER OF HARDWARE-LEVEL INSTRUCTIONS OR DATA STRUCTURES
Microprogramming; Microprogram.; Micro-program; Micro-code; Microinstruction; Microinstructions; Microprogram; Microcoding; Initial-Microprogram Load; IMPL; Micro-instructions; Nanocode; Picocode; Microcoded; Sequential micro-program; Horizontal microcode; Vertical microcode

microinstruction         
¦ noun Computing a single instruction in microcode.
horizontal microcode         
<processor> Microcode using horizontal encoding. (1995-04-23)
vertical microcode         
<processor> Microcode using vertical encoding. (1995-04-23)

Wikipedia

Microcode

In processor design, microcode is a technique that interposes an intermediate layer between the central processing unit (CPU) hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of a computer.

Microcode is a layer of hardware-level instructions that implement higher-level machine code instructions or internal finite-state machine sequencing in many digital processing elements. Microcode is used in general-purpose central processing units, although in current desktop CPUs, it can be a fallback path for cases that the faster hardwired control unit cannot handle.

Microcode typically resides in special high-speed memory and translates machine instructions, state machine data, or other input into sequences of detailed circuit-level operations. It separates the machine instructions from the underlying electronics so that instructions can be designed and altered more freely. It also facilitates the building of complex multi-step instructions, while reducing the complexity of computer circuits. Writing microcode is often called microprogramming and the microcode in a particular processor implementation is sometimes called a microprogram.

More extensive microcoding allows small and simple microarchitectures to emulate more powerful architectures with wider word length, more execution units and so on, which is a relatively simple way to achieve software compatibility between different products in a processor family.

Some hardware vendors, especially IBM/Lenovo, use the term microcode as a synonym for firmware. In that way, all code within a device is termed microcode regardless of it being microcode or machine code; for example, hard disk drives are said to have their microcode updated, though they typically contain both microcode and firmware.