From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
P-code
<language> The intermediate language produced by the
Pascal-P compiler. P-code is the assembly language for
a hypothetical stack machine, the P-machine, said to imitate
the instruction set of the Burroughs 6700.
The term was first used in the Wirth reference below. Byte
articles on writing a Pascal Compiler in Northstar BASIC (ca
Aug 1978) also used the term.
P-code was initially the intermediate code generated by the P2
compiler from ETH Zurich. P-code was later used as the
intermediate language in the UCSD Pascal System, and in its
two main derivatives, Apple Pascal and the UCSD P-system.
Variants: P2 P-code, P4 P-code, UCSD P-code, LASL P-code.
[Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs, N. Wirth, P-H 1976].
["A Comparison of PASCAL Intermediate Languages", P.A. Nelson,
SIGPLAN Notices 14(8):208-213, Aug 1979].
(2004-11-08)