microprogrammingn.

1953 M. V. Wilkes & J. B. Stringer in Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 49 230 It is also necessary that provision should be made for conditional micro-orders which play a role in micro-programming similar to that played by conditional orders in ordinary programming.

1962 H. D. Huskey & G. A. Korn Computer Handbk. xvi. 32 The concept of microprogramming suggests that the machine be designed and constructed in such a way that the individual basic command steps, such as clear the accumulator or left shift one place, are accessible for alteration.

1971 New Scientist 17 June 685/2 ICL is understood to be taking its own steps along the microprogramming path in its next range of computers.

1983 Sci. Amer. Mar. 36/1 Because the control instructions are responsible for such fine details, the task of defining and encoding them is termed microprogramming, thereby distinguishing it from the writing of the higher-level programs known generically as software.

1986 Amer. Math. Monthly 93 c82 An excellent introductory textbook... Presents a hierarchical model of computer organisation: the digital logical level, the microprogramming level [etc.].

1998 P. Ceruzzi Hist. Mod. Computing v. 149 By adopting microprogramming, IBM gained one further advantage, which some regard as the key to the 360's initial success.