The Contour Model Architecture and Assembly Language

The purpose of this report is limited to presenting the tagged record structure of the Contour Model Architecture CMA, the static structure of individual snapshots of a nested module computation as realized in CMA, and the Contour Model Assembly Language CMAL. Pedagogic illustrations of the CMAL-level evolution of a nested module computation are given in a separate report. The Contour Model CM as it currently exists can account for most of the semantic features of a broad spectrum of nested module computations CM does not yet contain specific features for inputoutput, interrupts, or selectively restricted memory access. The architecture CMA and the assembly language CMAL together constitute a detailed operational mechanism which realized CM as it currently exists. SMA is a relatively conventional, fully tagged, stack-oriented architecture whose tagged record structure and assembly language are intended to be implemented in microcode.