Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1, Fascicle 1, The: MMIX -- A RISC Computer for the New Millennium

Chapter 1—Basic Concepts

1.3´. MMIX

IN MANY PLACES throughout this book we will have occasion to refer to a computer’s internal machine language. The machine we use is a mythical computer called “MMIX.” MMIX — pronounced EM-micks — is very much like nearly every general-purpose computer designed since 1985, except that it is, perhaps, nicer. The language of MMIX is powerful enough to allow brief programs to be written for most algorithms, yet simple enough so that its operations are easily learned.

The reader is urged to study this section carefully, since MMIX language appears in so many parts of this book. There should be no hesitation about learning a machine language; indeed, the author once found it not uncommon to be writing programs ...