In about 1986, Steve Chamberlain
developed a dynamic cross-compiler for the Sun 3/260.
The basic emulation structure is an array of bytes for simulated memory
and and an ``action'' array, which is a same-size array of bytes.
There are then three arrays R, W, and
X for reads, writes, and execution;
each is subscripted by the ``action'' byte and contains a pointer to the
correspondition read, write, or execute action.
For example, a read of location 17 is implemented by
reading a = action[17], then branching to
R[a].
Similarly, executing location 17 is implemented by reading
a = action[17], then branching to X[a].
The default action is that each instruction is interpreted.
Each branch invokes the translator.
The translator (dynamic cross-compiler) generates a translation that
starts at the last branch and goes through the current branch.
SoftPC then records the current branch target,
which is the starting place for the next branch's translation.
SoftPC ``installs'' the translation by allocating a byte subscript
a, then it fills in the action table with the value
a and sets R[a] to act as a normal read;
W[a] to invalidate the corresponding translation; and
X[a] to point to the new translation.
For each byte ``covered'' by the translation,
the action table is set to a byte value that will invalidate the
translation.
For each translation, SoftPC also sets a back-pointer in a 256-entry
table so that when a particular translation is being invalidated
it is easy to find the location in the ``action'' table
which currently uses that translation.
There are thus a maximum of 256 translations at any time (actually 254 due to reserved byte values). The simulated system had up to 1MB RAM. In about 1988 Henry ??? extended the system to use the low bit of the address as part of the subscript, in order to expand the table to 512 translations. This is used in the first Apple MacIntosh target of SoftPC.
SoftPC emulates many devices, including EGA, VGA, and Hercules video; disks, including floppies and hard disks; the interrupt controller; and so on. In about 1987, Steve Chamberlain implemented an 8087 (FP coprocessor) that was not a faithful 8087 (e.g., did not provide full 80-bit FP) but which provided sufficient accuracy to run common applications.
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