Abstract: Techniques are described for dynamically controlling the execution of operations within a multi-operation instruction, such as a very long instruction word (VLIW). A programmable processor fetches and executes a first instruction having an operation mask. Based on the operation mask, the processor selectively executes one or more operations within a second instruction. Individual operations within a multi-operation instruction can be selectively enabled and disabled, which is advantageous in many situations, including event handling and code debugging.

Abstract: Super functional units are used to execute not only single super-instructions that take more than one issue slot, but also a number of equivalent regular VLIW instructions. Accordingly, the same hardware can thus be used to execute either a superoperation or a combination of regular operations, potentially combined with other smaller superoperations. Using super functional units in this way promotes efficient use of computing resources by making computing resources that might otherwise be used unnecessarily by superoperations available for use by single-slot instructions or by smaller superoperations. In some embodiments, a compiler analyzes program and other data to identify superoperations that can be reduced to equivalent single-slot instructions. The compiler maps these operations to a single slot of a super functional unit, reducing the computing resources occupied by the operation.