Abstract: A graphics subsystem having a programmable shader controllable by both state-based control information, such as DirectX 8 control information, and program instructions, such as DirectX 9 shader program instructions. The programmable shader translates state-based control information received from a host computer into native control information. The programmable shader translates into native control information program instructions fetched from memory locations identified by a received memory reference and program instructions received from the graphics subsystem. Native control information configures computation units of the programmable shader. The programmable shader optimizes the generated native control information by combining certain operations. The graphics subsystem detects memory references sent from the host computer and pre-fetches program instructions for transmission to the programmable shader.